


Paternal Discoveries

by KeJae



Category: Chuck (TV), White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-04-15 02:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4590357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeJae/pseuds/KeJae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has a past few people know about... a past marriage to someone before Elizabeth. What secrets might he discover about his former wife and what does the future hold for him and Elizabeth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

*******

It was just meant to be as a joke.

The FBI asked for two random sets of DNA to test a new system of theirs in genetic comparisons… the White Collar team volunteered their favorite duo of Peter and Neal. Their given reasoning was that they wanted to know why the two men were able to work together so well, and since they couldn’t explain it, maybe their DNA could.

Peter had laughed along with them and allowed the request, but Neal had been less amused. He tried to talk his way out of it, but the team backed him into a corner. Either he had to allow it, or he had to explain why he didn’t want his DNA compared to Peter’s.

When the FBI got the results and called a private conference with the two men, Peter learned why Neal had been so reluctant. Neal was his biological son.

Walking out of the room for a few minutes, Peter called Elizabeth and asked her to meet him and Neal for lunch. He had news for her.

Since Elizabeth was aware of the joke to compare Peter and Neal’s DNA, she had the suspicion that something had been found.

*******

Sitting at the restaurant, Peter had made sure to get a private table for this conversation as it was going to be a surprise for Elizabeth. Looking over at Neal while he waited for her, he couldn’t believe that he had a son, yet alone one that was a fully grown man that he really didn’t know.

Neal had known that Peter was his father for years so it wasn’t a surprise, it was more of a day of reckoning. What would Peter think of him? Would he be able to tell him the truth about himself? Would Bryce be brought back into the picture for the first time since they were both in college?

Things were feeling awkward between them as neither one knew what to say, so they sat quietly and waited for Elizabeth to arrive.

When she walked up, Elizabeth could tell that whatever the news was, it was serious, and it had the two men virtually unable to speak to each other. In an effort to bring a sense of normalcy, she greeted the men like she usually did and talked about her morning until the waiter had taken their orders.

With privacy assured until the food came, Elizabeth broached the subject. “So, what is this news that you have to share?”

Unsure of how to break the news, Peter decided to start from the beginning. “Do you remember when I told you that I was briefly married to Paige right out of high school?”

Nodding her head, Elizabeth summarized the details. “She was your high school sweetheart, but you caught her cheating on you a few weeks into the marriage. As she persisted, the marriage fell apart in the first year and you got a divorce. Except for a note some years later that she was being sent into Wit-sec, you never heard from her again.” Elizabeth didn’t know where this was leading, or why Neal needed to be present for this conversation as it seemed to be rather private, something that should remain between her and Peter.

“She had a surprise that she didn’t share and the joke test that the office volunteered us for turned out to be rather revealing.” He ran a hand through his hair and then looked Elizabeth in the eyes. “Elizabeth, she didn’t tell me, but Neal is my son.”

Surprised, Elizabeth gasped lightly. So, that was why Neal was along for lunch. “I guess that makes me the evil step-mother?” She tried to joke and take some of the awkwardness out of the moment.

Playing along, Neal smirked at her. “You are technically my step-mother, but evil? Sure, maybe, but not wicked witch evil for sure!” He laughed as his parents both glared at him. “Seriously, I couldn’t be luckier in Peter’s choice of a second wife.”

Trying to figure what else to say, Elizabeth decided to ask some questions. “You don’t seem surprised Neal, did you know?”

Put on the spot with both of them looking at him curiously, Neal fidgeted with his silverware. “Since I was twenty-one… the second time I learned my real name.”

With so many questions on their minds, Peter and Elizabeth didn’t know which one to ask. Taking the first one off of the top of his head, Peter asked. “What is your real name?”

“Neal George Caffrey-Burke. Except for your name tagged on the end, it’s exactly the same as when I was born. I’ve wondered if you were ever going to catch on to that.” He teased and questioned at the same time.

“I noticed that you had the last name Caffrey, but what were the odds that you were related to Paige? For all I knew, you might have picked it as your base name due to having heard or seen it somewhere and liking it.” He still couldn’t believe that he had a son and his first wife had left without telling him. She could drop him a note that she was going into Wit-sec, but she couldn’t tell him that?

“Why did you end up in Wit-sec?” That was another question that had bothered Peter for years.

Shrugging, Neal didn’t have as much of a concern as he might have. The man wasn’t really his father after all. “It’s easily summed up in that she continued to make bad choices.” Pausing to really look at Peter, he added. “Why she left you has been a question that I’ve had ever since I knew about you.” For a few moments he looked at the man he could happily think of as his father. Then he picked his story back up. “Basically, she ended up in DC with a police officer. On my third birthday it came out that he was a dirty cop guilty of pretty much everything from theft of evidence to murder of a fellow officer. With his fellow dirty cops and their mob contacts after us, because he turned state’s evidence, we were moved into Wit-sec.”

Feeling bad, Peter wished that he had been given a chance to protect his son. If he had taken him in, then he wouldn’t have had to experience the instability of his life falling apart at such a young age.

Seeing that Peter was feeling bad about the implications of what he had gone through, Neal decided to give him a distraction to research for the afternoon. It also gave him a means of announcing Bryce indirectly too. “My real files aren’t under Neal Caffrey though.” When Peter’s head whipped around at that, he knew that he was taking the bait. “You should try checking out Danny Larkin if you want to see those details.”

Taking a break as the waiter delivered their food, the group stepped back to absorb the information that had been shared.

As they settled into their food, Peter had a serious expression on his face. Was the Neal he knew a reaction to something Paige did, or was that due to his personal choices? The only way he was going to know was to ask. “What was your childhood like?”

Eating a few more bites of food, Neal tried to think of a good way to describe it. “Mom… she checked out after everything happened with James. Fortunately, I learn quickly and the arresting officer, James’ former partner, went into the system with us. She did what she could and things were alright enough. When I turned eighteen she told me my real name via adoption and I went to college.”

Choking on his food, Peter took a moment to collect himself before asking. “You went to college? Under which identity?”

Watching him until he was calm again, Neal just shrugged. “I told you, my real files are under Danny Larkin.”

Elizabeth took up the next question. “Are there any other surprised hidden under that name?”

Grinning evilly, Neal looked at both of them over his food. “Two secrets. One I can’t tell you so that is a way for you to find it on your own, and the other… I have no idea how to break the news to you so that is a way to give you a sporting chance.”

“A sporting chance?” Peter questioned.

“Just look it up Peter. I can’t tell you everything so that will give you the most answers.” It also meant that he could tell his father the truth, without telling him anything, thereby keeping to his goal of being as honest as possible with the man.

Letting the subject drop, Elizabeth asked a question. “Have you told the office yet?”

Paling, the men both shook their heads. “The bosses are arranging the paper work as we speak, so we aren’t to say anything until we get back.” Peter said. He was worried about what the bosses would do now that Neal was his son while Neal was nervous about how the team would react.

Changing the subject again, Elizabeth took the conversation down another path. “Do you have any pictures of you growing up?” She wanted to get to know her step-son better now that she knew he existed.

“A few. I can bring them over as soon as I get a hold of them.” At her questioning glance, he added. “Even Mozzie doesn’t know about this so I have kept them in a storage unit with the rest of my belongings.”

“What other stuff do you have?” Elizabeth randomly asked.

Laughing, Neal shrugged. “I don’t know. The stuff is mostly college paraphernalia, some things from growing up, and a few things from the career choice that I actually do.”

This time Elizabeth about choked on her drink while Peter did choke on his. Spluttering they simultaneously asked. “What do you mean by the ‘career choice that you actually do?’”

“It’s one of those things that I can’t talk about, but is listed under my name for you to learn this afternoon.” He finished his food after he said that while he waited for them to respond.

Elizabeth questioned that while Peter didn’t have a clue what to say. “So… you’re not actually a criminal? But, then… how? What?” She didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Check the files. I’m not allowed to talk about it.” Neal refused to answer any more inquiries on the subject.

As the others finished their meals, Peter insisted on paying the bill as his treat. “Hey, it’s not every day that I get to take my wife and son out to eat.” Peter argued.

Neal just rolled his eyes. “You’re being such a dad Peter.”

Unbeknownst to him, both people froze in their tracks behind him. That was the first time that someone had referred to Peter as a dad since he had discovered the truth.

Turning around, he realized the affect his off handed words had had. “Do I not say that word?” He questioned.

Shaking his head, Peter responded. “No, no, it’s not that. It’s just…” He paused looking for the right words.

“The first time to even jokingly be referenced that way since knowing about me.” Neal finished for him.

“Yeah, and it’s going to take some getting used to.” Peter added slowly. He was a dad. That was still sinking in.

Suddenly, Elizabeth gave him a funny look, but refused to say anything.

Understanding it’s meaning, Neal approached the topic anyway. “I can still call you Elizabeth and Peter just fine you know. It’s what we’re all used to.” It didn’t hurt him… much.

Catching him by the shoulder, Peter wouldn’t let him continue walking. “Neal…”

Looking him square in the eyes, Neal told him not to worry. “Seriously, I don’t need words. You are my father either way and Elizabeth isn’t actually my mom.” He gently removed Peter’s hand from his shoulder and led the way out of the restaurant.

Feeling like they had hurt Neal needlessly, Peter and Elizabeth walked along behind quietly holding hands to support each other.

*******

Peter and Neal were met by representative from upstairs when they returned to the office. The man led them back into a conference room where he filled them in on the paperwork that had been processed, told that they would remain partners, and released them to inform the team of their new status.

Walking back towards the office, Peter grabbed Neal’s shoulder again. Forcing him to stop and face him, Peter said some of the hardest words in his life. “I’m sorry that I hurt you Neal. Honestly, I don’t mind you calling me dad and hope that you are still willing to. It’s just… I didn’t even know that you existed before today.” Holding up his other hand and bobbing his head he added. “As my son Neal, I didn’t know that you existed as my son.” Pursing his lips and looking towards the wall for inspiration, Peter continued. “In the office we still need to be Burke and Caffrey, but outside of the office, I want to get to know you Neal.” There were tears forming in the edge of his eyes. “Your nearly thirty years old, we’ve known each other for several years, you’re my son, and I don’t even know you.”

Not wanting to see his father hurting for something that he couldn’t control, Neal loosened up and shifted his position. Grabbing Peter into a hug, he held him closely. “I’m a lot more like you than you think.”

For a few moments that was all that they did. Peter stood there while his son tried to comfort him through the shock setting in.

When Peter started to feel better again, they headed back to the office to tell the team.

*******

After the two got back to White Collar, they hurried up to Hughes office and secluded themselves for a few minutes to break the news. To their surprise, Hughes had already heard the news and congratulated them in amusement.

“Who would have thought that the joke of comparing your DNA would reveal this?” Chuckling he shook his head. “You two do tend to beat all of the odds, so I guess if it was going to happen to anyone, it would happen to you.”

Peter and Neal couldn’t argue with that, but they did find themselves smiling along with him.

Having discussed the basics of the situation, Hughes led them out onto the landing to announce the happy news to the rest of the team.

Getting the team’s attention, he called everyone into the room and waited until they were present. With his audience waiting, Hughes preceded to make the announcement. “Okay everybody. We have the results back from the DNA comparison.”

There were laughs and whistles as the agents waited to hear the results of their joke.

Waiving his hand to settle them down, Hughes continued with a smile as he couldn’t share the news without seeing the humor. “It had some extremely unexpected discoveries that Peter and Neal will have to explain for themselves, but the main point, is that Peter turned out to be Neal’s biological father.”

That caused silence followed by an eruption of noise. Everyone was talking at once as they couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

As the room quieted down, Neal couldn’t help but shrug. “I’ve known since I was twenty-one.” When the noise erupted anew, he whistled loudly to get their attention. “You can keep talking amongst yourselves, or you can patiently let us finish explaining the situation.”

Seeing his point, the room quieted down and he had an expectant audience.

“Care to take the beginning pops?” Neal teased.

Enjoying the changing relationship with Neal, Peter smiled at him before summarizing the previously unknown information of his first marriage. When he finished, he turned the tale over to Neal who finished he story.

“Let’s just say that mom continued to make bad choices and there were effects that dominoed until things… got pretty messed up. Eventually, I left everything behind and went my own way. Then, when I turned twenty-one an employer did a deep background check and pointed out my previously unknown heritage.”

“Why did you go into a life of crime?” One of the team asked.

Smirking at their inquiry, Neal teased. “Don’t think that I am suddenly going to get all talkative about my past just because I opened up a little bit.”

Glaring at him, some of the office didn’t like his treatment of the situation.

Intervening, Peter stepped in before anyone could say anything. “He has given me some information, but neither of us is going to talk about all of the details.”

Hughes also chose to step in and take over on the official front.   “They will be left to continue working as partners and, generally speaking, nothing is going to change. You’ve got the basic details for the moment so back to work everyone.” He ordered.

“Speaking of work, you’ve got some research to go do.” Neal teasingly dismissed Peter.

Retaliating, Peter reminded him of the pile of dull cases stacked on his desk. To his dismay, Neal had to admit that he had a point.

Grinning at each other, the two men went their separate ways to get to work.

Over the course of the afternoon, the team worked their way through their workloads, but the rumor mill was especially busy.

Eventually, Neal left the room for a short, and when he returned, he kicked his feet up on his desk as he played with his rubber band ball while watching the team working around the room.

Shortly after, Peter came out of his office and down the stairs bellowing “Neal!” He had obviously found something in his research. Stopping in front of Neal’s desk, he smacked the papers in his hand down while he continued to exclaim what he had found. “Why didn’t you tell me that there were two of you?”

Looking particularly innocent, Neal didn’t say anything to him.

Before Peter could give Neal a telling off, Neal walked into the office and stared at the Neal occupying his chair. Although he didn’t voice them, there were questions in his glance.

The Neal seated seemed to ignore those questions as he nodded in greeting.

Looking back and forth between the two of them, Peter suddenly realized what Neal had meant. “So that I would have a ‘sporting chance’ huh…” Continuing to look back and forth, he realized that the suit jacket was on the back of Neal’s chair so he was facing identical twins that were both wearing a white dress shirt and black dress pants. “Right now it doesn’t feel like it… which one of you is Neal?”

Laughing, both boys enjoyed his predicament for a moment and gave him a hard time by simply smiling at his question.

Then Neal took pity on him. “Be nice.” He knocked his brother’s feet off of his desk, much like Peter often did to him.

The observing office had the random thought that those must be family traits, but refrained from commenting.

Turning to Peter, Neal continued. “He likes to be even more annoying than I do. Meet Noah, my younger twin.”

“Hey dad.” Noah waved lightly from his brother’s chair.

Blinking in response. Peter said, “Hi son. My office. Now. Both of you.” Then he turned and led the way.

Neal drug Noah along with him as they bickered in some code language that no one in the office understood.

Behind them stood an office full of amused, but mostly terrified, agents. They were amused by the banter portrayed between the brothers as it was similar to what they were accustomed to seeing between Peter and Neal. But, they were also terrified at the prospect of having to deal with two Neal’s… with the second being even more annoying than the first! Then another thought occurred, did the second twin have a criminal record to worry about?

Upstairs, Peter settled into his chair as he looked acrossed the desk at his twin sons. In one day he went from a husband wishing to be a father, to a father of not only one, but two boys. He was pleased to learn about them, but he still had a lot of questions to be answered.

Addressing Noah first, he asked. “Noah, did you know about me?”

Showing an uncharacteristic amount of nerves, he fidgeted with his hands. “Yes, since I was twenty-one.”

Frowning, Peter had another question. “Why didn’t either of you say anything, or come looking for me?” It hurt to think that maybe they avoided him… did they want to get to know him? Or did they blame him, were they angry with him for not being there?

“That question goes two ways. Why didn’t you come looking for us?” Noah asked before Neal could stop him.

Wincing, Peter looked very upset by the accusation behind the question. “Because, Paige never told me that you existed. After we divorced… the only thing that I heard from her was that she was being moved into Wit-sec. I only found out about Neal this morning, and he gave me the clues to find you just before I came down the stairs a few minutes ago.”

Shrugging, Neal tried to distract Peter from the pain by explaining himself a little bit. “I got to know in a… rather unconventional way.”

Looking at him sternly, Peter started with “About that…” only to be cut off by Neal.

“My employment history. You obviously didn’t look that far yet.” He directed him to look at their papers in order to gather more information.

While Peter looked through the information on his computer or printed out on his desk, Neal turned to have a silent conversation with his brother. The two of them seemed to accusing each other and defending themselves with nothing more than facial expressions or the emotions in their eyes. It would have been interesting for Peter to see if he wasn’t so absorbed by the details depicting his sons as heroic and legendary agents.

“You’re both agents, Danny of the NSA and Bryce of the CIA?! “ He said in surprise and concern.

Neal didn’t seem to be phased by that exclamation, but Noah whipped his head around to look at him. “Since when have you been an agent?”

Looking back at him calmly, Neal answered. “Since about the same time that you were recruited. I noticed that you started pulling away and not responding to me as much, so I started poking around. A few inquiries later and I knew that you were also an agent. Then when I got the results of my background check I learned that dad is an agent too so I was determined to do a good job and meet him someday. After a few years I was given the task force assignment of playing Caffrey so I asked for my file to be given to him.” Turning to Peter he continued. “It wasn’t the ideal circumstances to meet you under, but it gave me a chance to get to know you without the pressure as well as giving me someone that I could trust with my back in the field.”

Peter was feeling better about his relationship with Neal, but he still didn’t know much of anything about his youngest.

Sensing that his father was feeling guilty needlessly, Noah decided to be nicer this time. “When we were growing up, Neal always aspired to be like the heroic cop of a father that we were raised to idealize, but I just wanted a father around regardless of what he was like. Then when I learned that our step-dad was… well, a dirty cop that had abandoned us, I didn’t want anything to do with fathers. Later, during college, I met my best friend Chuck whose father had abandoned him to protect him, and I decided that fathers might not be so bad, but I still wasn’t impressed with mine. Finally, I learned that you were out there, and since you had never been around, I wondered if you were like our other dad… that you just didn’t care. From what you said, I know that it wasn’t your fault, that you didn’t know about us either, but it still hurt to think that the two father figures in my life might not care about me.”

Unable to resist, Peter got up and moved around the desk to be right in front of Noah. He wanted his words to be heard and even a simple desk was too much to have in between. “Now you listen to me Noah. I may not know you yet, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care. You are my son, and I am here for you no matter what.” Grabbing his arm, he gently pulled him up out of the chair and into a hug.

At first Noah didn’t know how to react. He had never had a loving father figure in his remembered life. Then, it was like instinct took over, and he wrapped his arms back around Peter.

After a few moments, Peter shifted Noah to his side so that his arm was still around him, but so that he could look at Neal too. With a look, he directed Neal to stand up there with him. They were hidden from the office by the blinds so that there was just the three of them, and Peter wanted to have both of his sons with him, even if only for a moment.

With a smile, Neal got up and threw his arm around Peter from the other side before pulling Noah over into a family group hug. Reaching up from behind, he also ruffled Noah’s hair knowing that his brother hated it, but also as a means of easing up his tension to such a family moment.

Enjoying the feeling of having a son in each arm as well as their brotherly connection, Peter took a deep breath, pulled them even tighter for a moment, and released them. Feeling better than he had all day, he decided to leave the office early for a family day. Suddenly realizing that Elizabeth didn’t know about Noah, he directed them to stand together while he took a picture of them and sent it to his wife. Calling her, he gave her a quick warning. “Do you remember the second reason why Neal wanted me to look up his Wit-sec identity?” After giving her a moment to respond he clarified. “Well, he didn’t know how to break it to us that he has a twin. Just to forewarn you, they are both here and identical so I sent you a picture of them.” He paused to listen to her surprise for a few moments before wrapping up the call with the promise to leave early and see her soon.

Sending Neal back to his desk for his things, he began picking up his desk while he talked to Noah for a few minutes. It was pleasant to get to know him, but it was still feeling surreal to Peter as he worked to adjust to his new situation. When he was finished, he took Noah next door to introduce him to Hughes and give notice of his plans. With that taken care of, he and Neal took Noah on a general tour of the office and introduced him to the team before heading home.

*******

Arriving home, he led the boys up to the door and let them in. Hanging up his jacket, he was greeted by Satchmo, but surprised to hear Elizabeth crying in the kitchen. Giving Neal a look, he directed that he and Noah should take the dog for a walk to give him a few private moments to talk to Elizabeth.

Seeing around the room from his position, Noah saw the reflection of a dark haired woman sitting at the table in tears. Was she angry to learn about them? He was concerned with the reception that he would receive.

Ushering his brother for the door, Neal asked Peter to text him when they were ready for them to come back.

Nodding, Peter looked apologetically at them and gave Neal a look to talk to his brother.

Dividing, they each went to work on a family member.

*******

In the entire time that he tried to talk to her, Elizabeth seemed to be having a tough time expressing what was upsetting her beyond the overwhelming discoveries of the twins. That was the majority of her problem, but there seemed to be something more, something that even she hadn’t managed to put a finger on.

Talking her through it, Peter let her cry out her emotions and gave her a shoulder to lean on just like Neal had done for him, and he had done for Noah.

After a while she calmed down and freshened up before she was ready for the boys to come back.

Sending the text, Peter called them home.

*******

While they walked around the neighborhood, Neal talked to Noah. They hadn’t really seen each other since their college days and, even then, it was sporadic communication. Their conversation was full of government operations, their remembered college stories that they had shared, favorite childhood memories, and several other topics to help them bond after so many years apart.

Feeling more comfortable, Neal reached a point where he was ready to tackle the conversation of their parents. “You’re going to love Peter. Dad… he is the heroic cop, solid father figure, great husband, smart… really everything that we ever talked about having in the father of our dreams. I think Elizabeth is rather overwhelmed at the moment, but once she adjusts to there being two of us, she’ll probably pick a variation of her big sister role back up again. She may not be our biological mother, but she supports dad, she is smart, caring, kind, and she has a motherly instinct that is comforting.”

Seeing that Noah was hurt by his relationship with their parents, he tried to be less optimistic and more honest. “That is all true Noah, but our relationship has never been what it is going to be. To them, I have been an annoying con artist who has wormed his way into their hearts anyway. In the time that I have been in the picture, Peter has arrested me three times, given me more lectures than I care to count, and given me that disappointed look far too many times when I had to do something criminal for my role. Then Elizabeth, has been blunt with me about my stupidity, lectured me herself, and shown some jealousy of the amount of attention that Peter paid to my case file. And that isn’t even mentioning the fact that we have only had a lunch full of awkward moments with them both present and knowing who I really am. Sure, we have some history and something of a relationship, but that is all based on a lie of a handler and his consultant. We are all starting fresh with this so don’t feel left out, you’re not.”

It helped Noah feel a little better, but this was all going to take some adjusting too. Neal, Chuck, and Ellen were the only people to really show personal interest in him so having attentive parents was going to be a new experience.

By the time they got the text from Peter, they had worked through some of their issues as well as gotten Noah and Satchmo familiar with each other.

*******

With everyone home for the evening, Neal went into the kitchen to help Elizabeth prepare part of their dinner while ordering Peter to take Noah out to grill the meats. This way Noah could begin forming a relationship with their dad, while he could change his relationship with Elizabeth by helping her to adjust.

As he was working, Neal started a conversation with her. “You know Elizabeth…” When she didn’t answer he continued. “There have been three motherly figures in my life. James’ partner went into Wit-sec with us and is probably the reason why Noah and I made it through as well as we did. She taught us virtually everything after mom checked out. Then fast forwarding to the present part of my life, and there is June the elegant land lady who sometimes acts like I am the son she and Byron never had. Finally, there is probably the most special of them all…” Making sure that he had her attention, he looked her in the eyes as he finished. “You. Elizabeth, when dad and I have been at odds due to our work, you are often the voice of reason. When I need someone who understands my passion for art, foods, and the beauties of the art in life, you are one of my favorite people to turn to as dad doesn’t exactly get it. More importantly, you do for him what my mom never could, you give him the stability and support that he needs. And someday, should you and Peter ever have children of your own, they will be even luckier to actually be able to call you mom.”

Bursting into tears again, Elizabeth realized that Neal had hit her problems right on the head. She wanted to be a mother so bad, but she and Peter had never been able to have children. Then, she discovers that he not only has one, but two sons through a prior marriage. Her emotions left her adrift in fears and worries. Was she ever going to have children of her own? What was she supposed to do with two grown step-sons, would they even welcome her as a mother figure? Even if she and Peter did have children someday, how would the twins react?

Wrapping her in his arms, Neal comforted her. “Noah and I don’t know much of what it is like to have a caring mother in our lives. If you don’t mind, we would be honored to be your sons. I even promise not to play too many pranks on you… although we will probably have to play up the twins aspect as it isn’t fun to be identical if you can’t switch places once in a while.”

Laughing through her tears, Elizabeth tried to regain her composure. “Peter and I have wanted children for years, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Even though I am just your step-mother, I would be honored to call you my sons.” The she laughed a little more amusedly. “As for switching places, as long as you don’t go overboard, I promise not to be too much like the wicked witch of a step-mother.”

Giving her another hug of reassurance, Neal smiled at her. “You couldn’t even come close if you tried mom, you’re far too much like the fairy god mother.”

Feeling more content, Elizabeth pulled back and cleared her eyes. They still had dinner to finish before Peter and Noah beat them at grilling the meats.

When the food was all prepared, the family sat down to dinner and enjoyed their first cohesive meal as one unit. Elizabeth learned that she was the only civilian in the family, Peter learned that he wasn’t the only accountant, the twins learned stories of their parents growing up, and the family generally learned more about each other while forming the foundation of the bond that would last a lifetime.


	2. And baby makes five

*******

Staring at the test results, Elizabeth couldn’t believe that it was finally happening. She and Peter were going to be parents! Her emotions were bubbling everywhere as she both laughed and cried. It was her dream come true… until she remembered her two step-sons.

Neal had brought up the subject the first day that she knew of their relation, but what about Noah, what would he think? He was the younger of the twins and seemed to be more sensitive to family issues than Neal was.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to suppress her concerns and to focus more on the general excitement. She was going to be a mother!

Unfortunately, Peter had already gone to work so she would have to keep the secret to herself until the evening, or make it less personal by telling him over the phone. Given the choice, she chose to wait until the evening when she could enjoy the look on his face for herself instead of just hearing the excitement in his voice. Smiling, she pulled out her phone to text that she had something to tell him and she wanted to do it in private.

“We can tell the boys this weekend, but I just want a few days to enjoy this with Peter before I have to face their reactions.”

Receiving his response, she knew that the evening was going to be theirs. Making plans, she smiled from ear to ear as she got ready for her day.

It was one of those rare days where she got to sleep in and enjoy her morning before going to work for the afternoon.

*******

Arriving at the office, Elizabeth did her preparation for the client that she was expecting. When they arrived, she was all smiles and ready for anything.

Her client was a woman who had recently remarried and was planning the party to bring their joint families together. Smiling as she sat down, she noticed the family photos arranged on the corner of Elizabeth’s desk. “That is a nice family you have their. Is that your husband and your sons?”

Amused by her mistake, Elizabeth answered. “That is my husband, but those are his sons from his first marriage. I don’t have any children.” _Yet_ she thought. This little one was only just discovered and she wanted Peter to be the first to know about it.

Surprised, the woman hadn’t expected that. “But they look so much like you? If you hadn’t corrected me, I would have continued to think that they were yours. After all, they don’t seem to look much like your husband, but they do share the dark hair and blue eyes that you have.”

“Thank you. I’m not sure where they got their looks, as it must be from their mother’s side, but I hadn’t thought about our similarities in appearance. You’re the first person to call them my sons… although they aren’t biologically mine, they are very special to me.” The little one that she was carrying wouldn’t replace them, but they would make her feel more like a biological member of their little family.

“I’m so glad of that dear. Not everyone is lucky enough to have good relationships and similar appearances in mixed families. Personally, I think it helps to make the family more cohesive and eases the blending. If only I were to be so fortunate. Although I generally have a good relationship with my step-children, they don’t look anything like me.” She didn’t seem to lament the lack of genetic similarity too much as she quickly delved into the party plans. Working through the details, they tried to come to an agreement that would fit the budget while keeping the guest comfortably happy.

Their afternoon flew by quickly and Elizabeth highly enjoyed talking with the older lady. She had shared several pieces of advice for dealing with mixed families and her experiences in getting to know her own step-children. Taking her wisdom into account, Elizabeth took mental notes in the hopes that maybe the lessons could help her to break the news to her own step-sons.

*******

Taking advantage of some samples from one of the caterers, she brought home a nice meal that Peter would appreciate. Setting up the table, she had a romantic dinner arranged and with the test results wrapped as a gift, she was ready for Peter to arrive home.

Settling in on the couch, she flipped through a magazine mindlessly and tried not to watch the clock.

Eventually, Peter arrived home and was quickly able to change from his work clothes to something more comfortable for the evening. “Sorry I couldn’t get home sooner. We had a lot of reports to finish with the case that we closed today.” Looking into the dining room, he noticed the romantic setting and she could see his mind trying to make sure he hadn’t forgotten something important.

Kissing him with a smile, she alleviated his concerns. “You didn’t forget anything hon. I just wanted to make this special.” That was when she realized that he had never experienced this before either. He might have two sons, but he didn’t get to find out about them until roughly thirty years later.

“Make what special?” He smiled curiously.

“Open this and I think you will figure it out quickly enough.” She passed him the little jewelry box and waited anxiously.

Glancing at her occasionally, Peter carefully opened the paper and wondered about her excitement. Reaching the box, he opened it up, and gasped. “Elizabeth… is this… what I think it is? You’re… we’re…?” He was surprised and extremely excited. So much so that he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

“Yes Peter, and this time you get to be present for the whole process.” She smiled as Peter picked her up and swung her around in a hug.

Hugging her and kissing her again, Peter couldn’t contain his excitement. “That is some of the best news that I have ever heard!” He couldn’t say that this little one was going to be any better than their older brothers, but he was going to get to be involved this time… there was no way he was going to miss their growing up years without a fight.

Holding his face with one hand while her other still remained around his back. Elizabeth spent a few moments looking happily into the eyes of the man she loved. “I figured we could tell the boys this weekend if they can both make it, but tonight, I want it to be just you and me.”

“That works for me.” Then he laughed. “You know, this little one is going to be spoiled.”

“What makes you think that?” She queried.

“The twins… they will be like uncles due to the age difference. I know Neal is going to be excited, but something tells me that Noah will too. They both love family and this little one will just be one more addition to ours.”

His words relieved some of her concerns about the twins. Maybe he knew something of Noah that she didn’t? He had been spending as much time as possible with the young man in order to build a bond between them.

For the rest of the evening, they enjoyed the delicious food before relishing in conversations of dreaming and planning. There was so much to discuss.

*******

For the rest of the week, there was a great secret brewing in the Burke household.

Neal and Noah were both aware of the plans for them to be invited for a family dinner and they had each observed the joy radiating from Peter and Elizabeth. In response, they were coming up with theories as to what was the cause and sharing their notes in a friendly challenge to see if they could discover what was going to be shared with them… it was obviously that some kind of a good announcement was coming. Their efforts were hindered though as work was busy so their time to dedicate to the mystery was limited.

*******

When the weekend finally came about, the boys arrived at their parents home when expected. Knocking on the door, they waited patiently for Peter to let them in. Smiling as they entered, the boys could feel the excitement in the very air of the home.

“I hope you don’t keep us waiting for this announcement of yours.” Neal commented.

“It’s practically vibrating in here… you can feel the excitement just walking in.” Noah observed.

Exchanging looks, Peter and Elizabeth decided that they had left them stewing long enough. Signaling them to wait for a moment, they left the puzzled twins standing while they moved to grab two gifts that were waiting on the table. Peter handed one, while Elizabeth passed the other.

“Open them.” Peter said.

“The gifts explain.” Elizabeth beamed nervously.

Sharing looks of their own, the twins started unwrapping the gifts while looking at their parents just like Peter had done earlier in the week. Once the gifts were opened, they each removed a t-shirt. Unfolding them, their eyes grew big and they gasped as they read the words printed on them.

“Seriously?” Neal exclaimed. At their nods he continued. “Congratulations!”

“Wow… so that possibility was the right one.” Noah was quieter but smiled no less excited than his brother.

They were both equally excited and gave their parents enthusiastic hugs to congratulate them.

“You’re happy with the news?” Peter asked.

“Of course… I just hope that it’s a girl.” At Elizabeth’s questioning look he continued. “I already have a little brother, so a little sister would be nice.”

Laughing, Noah didn’t have too much to specify. “I hope she looks like dad.” When everyone looked at him for an explanation of his odd statement, he shrugged. “One of us should.”

Putting her arm around Noah in a hug, Elizabeth laughed as that brought a memory back for her. “That reminds me. I had a client earlier this week and she was admiring my photos of you all… she thought that I was biologically your mother. Apparently, some people think that you boys look more like me than your father.” Once the words were out of her mouth, Elizabeth mentally froze as she hoped no one would be offended by her statement.

Snorting beside her, Noah wasn’t worried at all. Shifting the gift in his arms to return the sideways hug, he added to her comment. “That’s ironic isn’t it. If it wasn’t for the lack of genetic markers, you could actually be our biological mother. After all, you have all the other qualities.”

With tears coming to her eyes, Elizabeth thought those were the best words she had ever heard Noah say. Reaching up, she kissed his cheek and wiped the lipstick off. Hugging him closer, she returned his words. “I could say the same about you. The genetic markers are the only thing keeping you from being my biological son.”

Getting a peaceful look to his eyes, it was like Noah was also having a moment.

Watching from where they stood, Peter and Neal didn’t have anything to say. They were a family, and they were enjoying the sight of Elizabeth and Noah verbalizing their acceptance of each other. It was the first time that they had made such a show since discovering their relation.

Realizing that Noah needed to work on his relationship with Elizabeth, Neal grabbed the meat and drug Peter out to the grill. This time they would trade tasks in an effort to talk to the other parent during the meal time preparations.

Breathing deeply as he fired up the grill, Peter couldn’t be happier with his life. “They finally said it. I’ve been watching them wonder how well the other was accepting them, while neither of them felt comfortable sharing their feelings yet.”

Giving him a look, Neal rolled his eyes. “And you’re so great at sharing your feelings too dad.”

Pretending to glare, Peter acted like he was going disciplinarian on Neal. “That’s enough of your sass.”

Bouncing his head as he smiled, Neal teased back. “Yep, that kid is going to be in trouble. She’ll have to watch her tongue when she gets to be a teen.”

Growing more serious, Peter changed the subject slightly. “You really are okay with this?”

Grabbing Peter by the shoulders, Neal made him face him. “Dad. You and Elizabeth are going to be having a baby and I am going to be a big brother again. Seriously… I couldn’t be happier.”

Relaxing, Peter smiled again. “Good. We don’t want you boys to feel like we’re trying to replace you or anything. Our family is simply going to be growing one larger and that is all.”

“And she will be loved as dearly as any other member.” Neal stated like the gender was certain.

Smirking, Peter couldn’t help but comment. “What if it is a boy?”

“Then he will be loved as dearly as any other member… and the next one will have to be a girl.” Neal only changed his perspective slightly.

Choking, Peter laughed after he regained his composure. “We’ve been hoping to have children for ten years… what makes you certain we will be so lucky?”

Patting him on the back to help him, Neal shrugged. “Because at least one needs to be a girl.”

“Why do you want a sister so badly?” Peter was curious.

Neal didn’t really have words to describe why. “I don’t know… I love Noah, but there has always been something about a younger sister. Maybe there was some influence from movies or some playground experience watching other kids with their younger sisters…”

Wrapping him into a hug, Peter was proud of his son. “I hope she’s a girl then.”

*******

Meanwhile inside, Elizabeth found that Noah was capable in the kitchen, but not as skilled as Neal. Still, what he didn’t know left room for Elizabeth to bond with him by teaching him her skills.

During one of the times that they were preparing a dish, she started up some conversation. “You really are happy with the news?” He was the one she was most worried about.

Smiling at her sadly, Noah didn’t like that she was worried about his opinion so much. “Yes mom. In fact, I hoped this was the news that you had to share with us.”

Relieved by his words, but concerned with his sadness, she looked at him quietly.

“I wish you didn’t have to worry about my opinion.” He hung his head until he felt her wrap him into a hug.

“It’s only because I don’t know you as well yet.” Hesitantly, she broached a request that suddenly came to mind. “Perhaps… you would be willing to help me get some of the things together for the baby? After all, an engineering degree might come in handy for a few of the tasks.”

Pleased to be asked, Noah was happy to accept. “I would be happy to… hmm, I can set up quite the security system, baby monitoring system, and… but I will leave that one as a surprise.”

Squeezing him a little tighter, Elizabeth was happy to hear his enthusiasm. “I look forward to it. It will be nice to get to spend some time with you.” Hugging him again, she moved back to the dish as the food was still cooking.

*******

After a while the food was finished and the family settled in to eat together as they began talking of the expected arrival.

“Let me know when you get ready to paint the nursery.” Neal requested. “I assume the guest room is about to undergo some changes.”

Surprised, Elizabeth looked up at him. “Why do you want to pain the nursery?”

Neal just gave her a look. “I’m an artist. She is my baby sister. Why wouldn’t I want to do something?”

Widening her eyes as she realized both boys were going to spoil them as well as the baby, she felt surprise followed by happiness. “You don’t have to… but, if you want to. What do you have in mind?”

Tilting his head, Neal came up with a plan. “How about this, you pick everything that you want, and I’ll paint the final details to make it a surprise?”

Growing more curious as the boys each came up with their secret gifts, she looked forward to seeing what they would come up with.

Peter smiled proudly. He had his wife, two sons, and another child on the way. Life could only get better with the coming child in his arms. Suddenly, he was looking forward to watching his sons play with their little sister, the feeling of coming home to hear a child’s laughter filling the house… things were going to be so good.

*******

After the first trimester had past, Peter and Elizabeth got the family together again for the reveal of the gender. They had followed with the trend of giving the baker the information on the gender, while they themselves didn’t know. That way the reveal would be a surprise to everyone at the same time.

When the evening came, everyone settled in and ate their dinner while eying the cake as it set in the middle of the table. They would pick up a conversation only to have it die when someone got too distracted by the cake and their curiosity as to the gender of the coming arrival.

Eventually, the meal was finished and they eagerly cleared the dinner dishes before gathering around the table again. Since the cake was small, they had four knives so as to be able to each cut a slice for themselves. Slowly gliding through, they each looked to see who would catch a glimpse of color first. Then, as they pulled their knives out of the cake, they all smiled… it was pink.

“I told you Teddy was a girl.” Neal beamed.

“You were right after all, Neal.” Peter smiled. He was going to have a daughter too!

Noah just continued to smile while Elizabeth laughed softly at Neal. She was amused by the proud and knowing expression on his face. Like Peter, she was picturing the image of a bouncing baby girl being entertained by her older brothers, chasing the dog, or simply playing by herself on the floor. Her mind pictured Peter rocking her to sleep and she looked forward to what it would feel like to hold her daughter in her arms.

*******

Over the months that followed, the house was frequently full of bustling activity as the family prepared for their new addition to come.

Peter had a self imposed ‘honey do list’ that he was determined to complete before the child was born. In his spare time, he was often seen working on little things like the garbage disposal or a squeaky door hinge.

Neal often talked to Elizabeth about colors and themes like teddy bears or toy cars. He was often sketching as he tried to come up with the perfect ideas for his little sister… nothing but the best would do.

Noah used his skills to help Peter install a better security system and a means of monitoring the baby. He wanted to contribute for his baby sister and those were the means most unique to him.

Enjoying the sights of her men working for the baby, Elizabeth settled back to create a small baby blanket. Her squares had a light floral pattern depicting a feminine look. They were the ones that were dedicated to her thoughts and excitement of anticipating the baby. For Peter, she did a horse. He came from the northern part of the state and had a love of horses which she decided would represent his fatherly pride. Neal, she based his square on the nickname he had already dubbed the baby. A teddy bear represented his love and adoration. Then, Noah was represented by a dog for his loyalty. His baby sister was the best baby sister before she was even born. Finally, even Satchmo got a representation by a paw print. As a collective work, the quilt was a representation of the love that they had for the baby and it would be personalized once they had settled on a name.

Piece by piece and day by day the preparations were made. After a few weekend projects, the boys had the large furniture like the changing table, rocker, crib, dresser, and other pieces assembled from their shipping state to the usable pieces they had become and placed in the nursery. Meanwhile, Elizabeth enjoyed the more shopping oriented tasks with Peter or the boys as they looked for bedding, books, toys, clothing, and other items. The smaller purchases were stored in the basement until Neal was ready to put them in their places.

Elizabeth continued to be curious, but she had no idea what everything looked like together. According to Neal, she wouldn’t get that sight until she brought the baby home.

*******

In addition to the preparations, there were other changes going on in their lives.

Elizabeth experienced the morning sickness and cravings typical of her condition, which kept the boys on their toes. She often sent whichever one was handy on errands for ice cream, pickles, or crackers at all hours of the day.

Since Neal was often around to work on the nursery, he sometimes camped out in the room and was around overnight making him one of the people liable to be sent on the errands. The nights when he wasn’t present and Peter was the one sent, he would make sure to be the bearer of good coffee to help keep him awake in office the next morning.

With the work progressing at various stages, Noah also camped out on the couch some weekends in order to be around to help on some projects when he was in town. In the events that he was sent, then Peter made sure to wake him up with a cup of good coffee.

Basically, the men of the family banded together through Elizabeth’s cravings and hormones with a readiness to get her whatever she needed, no matter the hour, and coffee to wake each other up in the morning.

*******

As the pregnancy drew towards a close, Peter got rather jumpy.

He would be sitting at work and filling out a report when he would check his phone to see if it had gone off. When it would turn out to be in his imagination, he would return to his work until the next time.

If this occurred in the conference room, the agents would smile at each other and shake their heads as they laughed at him quietly.

Neal would jerk his head up to observe Peter and wait until he had shaken his head at him. With the tension relieved for a while again, Neal would also return to his work. During those times that this happened a bit too much in a day, Neal would also tease Peter.

“Is this a glimpse into what it would have been like if mom had let you be involved with us?” He figured as much, but he was also curious.

Shrugging, Peter could never be sure of the answer. “We’ll never know for sure, but probably.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I get the feeling that there is going to being a building anxiety until she is born.”

Patting him on the shoulder, Neal smiled. “I think we are all looking forward to being able to see her for ourselves.”

When the holidays came, Peter and Neal were both relieved to have a bit of time off. Maybe their little gift would choose to arrive while they could be present?

*******

It was Christmas Eve when the call came.

Peter was pacing the hospital hallway when he called his sons to inform them that their little sister was indeed on the way.

Catching a cab, Neal was able to arrive within the hour while Noah had to return home from a mission so he wasn’t present until the middle of the night.

Killing time while they waited, the brothers entertained themselves. They spent part of the time taking pictures and recording well wishes from their friends as they waited for the news since Jones, Hughes, and Diana visited in representation of the FBI, Mozzie lurked around somewhere, and June spent some time providing her support as well. When they were alone, they kept themselves busy by pursuing their interests. Noah used his computer skills to create a video by combining the recordings and pictures with things of his own creation. Neal pulled out his sketch book to draw the feelings of the atmosphere before Noah would later scan them into his work. Combined, their project would make for a nice keepsake for the family.

From time to time Peter would come out to talk to the twins, he would give them general updates and enjoy trying to see what they were working on. “Why is it that all of your gifts are becoming surprises to be revealed later?” He easily complained. The curiosity was getting annoying in his mood.

Glancing over at him, Noah explained. “Because, the work is best understood when it is compete… the rest of it is merely the pieces of the whole. Besides, we have been recording various aspects of our work so that you can satiate some of that curiosity later.”

“Sorry, I just need a distraction at the moment.” Peter apologized for coming off as ungrateful.

Neal nudged him. “You have always liked my art, why don’t you watch as a piece comes together?”

He went to work drawing a picture of the general waiting room that they were in. It wasn’t the most interesting picture that he could draw, but it kept Peter curious as to what could possibly be the purpose of Neal drawing it.

As Peter watched, Neal continued to fill the picture in with people. He was amazed as he saw Hughes sitting in a seat with a cup of coffee, Jones laughing at a joke, Diana smiling as she conversed with June, Mozzie lurking in the background, Noah focused on his computer, and Neal even managed to sketch himself into the picture as he sat drawing. Looking around the room again, Peter saw that it was a scene that had occurred over the hours of waiting.

After the picture was complete, Neal told Peter to take it to Elizabeth. He had been apart from her long enough and she would enjoy the picture.

*******

Finally, as the sun peaked over the horizon on a bright Christmas morning, she arrived.

Taking the twins in to meet their baby sister before taking her out for the rest of their friends, Peter sat them down so that he could formally introduce them.

“Meet your baby sister, Noel Grace Elise Burke.” He passed her to Neal as the oldest brother who had wanted a sister so badly.

Smiling happily, Neal asked as to the meaning behind her names. They were a secret that Peter and Elizabeth had kept.

Elizabeth explained. “Noel is four letters, starts with N, and she is born on Christmas day. Grace because she has graced us with her presence after so many years of waiting. Elise is a version of Elizabeth, per Peter’s request. We tried to mimic your names with the start, length, and number of names.”

Passing her over to Noah for a turn, they all watched as he gently held her. “She has brown hair like you dad, and her eyes are dark blue. It looks like one of us might actually look like you after all.” He smiled at the rest of them.

“Why does her appearance mean so much to you?” Neal asked him.

Noah shrugged and rolled his eyes. Hadn’t he explained this well enough before? “You and I look like Elizabeth with our dark hair and blue eyes, it only seems fitting that Noel should look like dad.”

“As long as she has mom’s features, she’ll be okay.” Neal cast a teasing glance and smile at Peter.

With a swift movement, Peter took Neal’s hat to lightly smack him on the head with it playfully. “That is my opinion of that son.” His actions caused the entire group to laugh only for them to all fall silent at a sound.

Shifting their attention, they all focused on the baby who was making noise from her brother’s arms. It wasn’t exactly a coo, but she seemed to starting towards learning to make the sounds.

Settling back peacefully, the family enjoyed the moment before opening the door to their friends for a quick visit.

*******

At last, the long awaited day arrived when Elizabeth was able to bring the baby home.

Walking into the house, she waited as the boys got the door open and brought all of the things in from the car. Between the three of them, it was the work of a few quick minutes.

Ready to climb the stairs, Elizabeth carried Noel, Peter followed her, and the twins led the way. Reaching the top, they were meant with the sight of the twins gesturing them through the door.

Gasping as she entered, Elizabeth was amazed by what she saw.

Her sight was first captured by the large mural on the back accent wall. It was a depiction of New York City that Noel could grow into as a child and teenager showing a long term planning. Neal had taken great care to detail the buildings so that they could be recognizable, pulled the architecture into view to soften the piece, and used a mix of colors and glitter to give the city the appearance of being a sparkling jewel.

There were pictures hung around the wall that depicted art and the family with plenty of room to bring in more as she grew. For those, Neal had carefully picked some favorite family photos and painted various animal depictions to represent the family.

Moving to the furniture, Elizabeth noticed that he hadn’t done anything with them, they weren’t things that would stay, but he had ensured that they had those homey little touches. The crib had the quilt she had made hanging over the side, there were a few stuffed animals grouped in the corner, and there was a mobile hanging over top. Moving closer, Elizabeth could that the animals were a horse, dog, and teddy bear as she expected. Running her fingers over the mobile, she realized that it was Noah’s gift. He had collected little animals from his travels around the world and created a motorized mechanism to move them around.

Crying, she stopped looking around the room to give each one of her sons a hug. “They’re beautiful… absolutely beautiful.”

While she laid Noel down into her crib, Peter also took the opportunity to pull each boy into a hug. “You both did amazing work. She is lucky to have such loving older brothers.”

*******

In the week that followed, Neal and Noah spent time with their family as they celebrated Christmas and their new arrival.

When they settled in to open their gifts, Peter noticed that there had been a few new additions.

Taking Noel, Neal happily let Noah explain the new gifts.

Smirking at his brother, Noah passed the gifts to the appropriate parents. “These are the things that we were working on while we waited for Noel.” Turning to Elizabeth he gave her a box. “This is the video recording of what happened in the waiting room. We have combined pictures, videos of well wishes, and Neal’s drawings.” Focusing on Peter, he passed him his box. “You saw Neal draw one of these pictures, but in reality, he drew many. These not only capture what was happening, but he worked to capture the emotions in the strokes of his pencil.”

Watching, the brothers enjoyed the looks on their parent’s faces as they looked at their gifts. Peter flipped through the pictures while Elizabeth looked over his shoulder, before they switched roles to watch Elizabeth’s video on the computer.

Composing themselves, they thanked the boys before moving on to open the other gifts. There were toys for Satchmo, art supplies for Neal, a nerdy t-shirt and other memorabilia for Noah, a nicer suit for Peter, a very nice family oriented necklace for Elizabeth, and two custom outfits for Noel. Her brothers had bought her onesies with one saying “My little Teddy Bear” and the corresponding bear, while the other said “My baby sister” to try and convey their pride in her.

Once the rest of the gifts were opened, they settled in to dinner and generally enjoyed the day together as one big happy family.

*******

In the new year, after Elizabeth was back from her maternity time, she had another party to throw for her client with a mixed family.

This time the woman knew who the people in the photo were, so she immediately noticed the new addition. “Congratulations on your daughter. She is such a lovely little thing.”

“Thank you. She looks like her father, her brothers adore her, and I couldn’t be more lucky.” Elizabeth looked fondly at the picture as she had replaced the old ones with a joint picture. Instead of having Peter in one and the twins in another, she had all five of them happily depicted for the family that they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, following/bookmarking, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D
> 
> Next week, I will be returning from my trip sometime on Sunday (late by the sounds of it) so posting will probably be delayed until Monday night or Tuesday afternoon (depending on how work goes). Since I don't have any particular plans for my posting, please check out my profile page (KeJae on fanfiction.net for AO3 readers) for a list of completed works (titles, summaries, lengths, and other details are included) and let me know if you have any requests, or I will have to randomly choose something…


	3. History Repeats

*******

Standing in the maze, Peter wondered through the hallways.  Understanding that he was dreaming, he was in no hurry.  Instead, he simply meandered around while he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing.  Mazes are a puzzle to find either the exit, or the cheese, right?  So what was his goal for being in this maze?

Listening, he heard a sound.  Following in the direction that it appeared to be coming from, he moved to investigate.  It was laughter, but more than that, it was the laughter of children.  His children.

The further he went towards the sounds looking for them, the more he began to notice that the pictures were changing.  Turning towards one, he wanted to see what was so important.

Gasping, the pictures contained images of them, only they were all children.  The first one depicted small versions of Neal and Noah playing with cars on the floor.  Then the next one depicted them being joined by Noel as she also enjoyed the fun with a car of her own.

Smiling, Peter wished it was possible, that he could see three tiny people running around his house and a floor covered in the toys to suit all three children’s preferences. 

Walking down to the next picture, he was watching the three playing at the park.  Neal was pushing Noel on the swing and Noah was occupied by imagining himself a Viking fending off the monster portrayed by Satchmo.

One by one, Peter walked down the hall and looked at each picture.  He was no longer interested in chasing the elusive laughter; it had changed to bringing the images to life.  Instead of still paintings hanging on the wall, they had become hazy movie clips his mind had created for scenes that would never happen.  Alas, Neal and Noah were decades past those stages in their lives… they were adults, and he would never experience their growing up years.

Coming awake, Peter felt the tears running down his face to accentuate the sorrow.  They were his children, and he loved them all dearly, but there would always be something missing from their relationships as they were denied those years of growing and bonding as a family.  Staring at the ceiling, he felt the sorrow growing instead of easing.  It had been a burden to bear ever since he learned about the twins, but for some reason, the dream seemed to enhance it tenfold.  Then, to make it even worse, the dream kept revolving around in his mind which kept the emotions heightened.

Looking at the clock, he groaned to himself as he wasn’t likely to get back to sleep again.  Being a Saturday, work shouldn’t be an issue, but the twins were likely to be dropping by.  With a sigh, he knew he would either have to hide his pain, or inflict it on them.  Since they couldn’t do anything about it either, he might as well begin the monumental effort of suppressing it.

Hearing his phone go off, he glanced at the caller ID to see that Neal was calling.  Considering the early hour, he hoped nothing was wrong.

Answering, he listened in concern as Neal told him that something had happened, so they needed him, but he refused to go into detail as to what had transpired.  With the promise to be right over, Peter ended the call and began waking Elizabeth up.

“El… honey…”  He gently shook her shoulder due to the urgency.

“Huh… what’s wrong?”  She questioned a little groggily.

“The twins… something has happened, so I am going to head over there and bring them back.”  He explained while hurrying to get dressed.

Waking up and becoming more alert, Elizabeth was concerned.  “What’s wrong?”

Shrugging while he grabbed the handiest shirt, Peter couldn’t answer.  “Neal said I wouldn’t believe him if he told me, so he insisted I come to them.”

Climbing out of bed, Elizabeth transitioned into her worried mom mode.  “Let me know what is wrong, and I’ll have spaced set up for them before you get back.”  She moved to kiss him before shooing him out their bedroom door.

*******

Pulling up in front of June’s, Peter was relieved to see that the house looked normal.  Still, something was wrong, so he hurried to the front door with long strides.  Pulling out his key, he was too impatient to wait for someone to let him in. 

Practically running up the stairs, he made his way up to the third floor as quickly, but quietly, as he could.

Opening the door to the apartment, he looked around to see that it also looked normal.  With Neal and Noah nowhere to be seen, he was about to call out for them when a small sniffled caused him to whirl around.

Gasping, his jaw dropped to the floor.

 “Dad… we don’t know what happened, but we woke up this way.”  Neal’s voice quivered.  He was standing in a pair of pajama pants and a soft grey t-shirt, but he was a five year old. 

Shocked into laughing, Peter couldn’t help it.

“What’s so funny?”  Neal said.

Laughing harder, Peter couldn’t help it with the childish glare he was receiving.

As tears started to form in the corner of Neal’s eyes, he felt that Peter was laughing at his predicament.

Working to control himself, Peter crouched down to be on Neal’s level.  Low enough to look the little guy in the eyes, he explained.  “I’m not laughing at you Neal.”  Gesturing him closer, he refused to continue until Neal had walked up to him.  Pulling the little boy in close, he could feel his body vibrating in fear.  “Last night I was dreaming about how I missed your childhood, and today you’re deaged to be five years old…  It’s like a missed opportunity, and also, there is something about you glaring at me that isn’t as intimidating as it is when you’re big.”

Seeing that Neal was getting closer to tears, he stopped talking and picked him up like he would if he was actually five years old.  Standing back up, he held Neal on one arm and rubbed his back comfortingly.  “It’s alright Neal…”

Having one son crying on his shoulder, he went looking for the other to console as well.  “Noah?”

Peaking out of the bathroom, Noah stuck his head out slightly.

“Come here son.”  Peter gestured for him to come to him as well.

At first, Noah seemed hesitant to come out.

“I already know that you're five right now.  Come here son, I’m not going to laugh at you, that was just shock and the coincidence of seeing both of you so small after dreaming of the times we missed out on together.”  He tried to encourage him.  Lowering himself to the ground again, Peter put his arm out welcomingly.

With the tears welling up in his eyes too, Noah darted acrossed the space and flung himself into his father’s strong arm.  Dressed in comfy pajama pants with a nerdy tee, Noah grabbed a fist full of Peter’s shirt and buried his face into his neck.

Standing back up, Peter shifted each one of the twins closer to him and hugged them by placing his chin over each of their shoulders in turn.  As they both continued to cry, he couldn’t help but have mixed feelings.  On one side, he was getting a taste of those missed opportunities to help his sons while they were little, but on the other, they weren’t actually supposed to be little anymore, so he hurt for them. 

Moving arossed the room, he settled down on the couch where his arms would be free to hug them.  Knowing it might be his only chance, he shifted the boys so they were settled with one on each knee and cuddled them as closely as he could.

Both of the boys had their faces buried into the crook of Peter’s neck, were cuddled into his side and chest so as to be as close as possible, and had fists full of his shirt clenched so tightly it would have hurt if they had cared.

Wrapping his arms around them, Peter could feel them shaking uncontrollably.  Whispering to them, stroking their heads, and rubbing their backs, he tried to help them calm down.  His heart was melting for the chance to hold his sons and show his love for them, but it was also breaking for their pain.

*******

Eventually, they began to calm down and were merely sniffling into his chest.

Kissing the tops of their heads, Peter hugged them both closer again as they hiccupped.  “I know this is upsetting for you, but a part of me can’t help but relish the opportunity to be here for you.”

Crying a little again, Neal finally found words.  “Thanks… dad.”

Squeezing him gently, Peter hugged him.  “Anytime, son.”  Then he turned to Noah and squeezed his shoulders as well.  “That goes for you too.  I love you both.”

Hiccupping, they both told him that they loved him too.

Feeling his tears on the top of their heads, the twins decided that being deaged wasn’t such a bad thing after all.  Their father had them securely on his lap and safely in his arms, he had his own tears for the shear love he felt for them, and the most important detail of all was that it was real.  He wasn’t some figment of their imagination to help them deal with a hardship.  Instead, he was as real as a solid wall.

Raising their heads to exchange a look, the twins agreed. 

Taking the role of spokesperson, Neal shifted so he was hugging Peter back.  “We’re glad that you are here too dad.  You were a figment of our dreams growing up, so to get to experience this for real is something we will always treasure.”

Crying harder, Peter was becoming overcome with emotions and the twins switched to comforting him.

Hugging Peter as well, Noah patted his chest as that was the highest he could reach.  “It’s okay dad, this is a lot to take in, but I think it’s a blessing in disguise.”

Finding his smile again, Peter agreed.  “I think so too.”

*******

Finally regaining their composure, Peter decided it was past time for him to call Elizabeth.  “You’re mom is probably getting worried… we should call her.”  He said as he scrubbed his eyes.

“Do you think she’ll believe us?”  Neal wrinkled his face up as he questioned the likely hood of that.

“She will if we take a picture.”  Peter said as his fall back.  “That worked when I first told her there are two of you.”

“That was easier to believe than this…”  Noah noted.

Shrugging, Peter wasn’t worried.  “She won’t question it for long once she gets her arms around you.”  At their questioning looks, he added.  “I’m not leaving you here, your coming home with me where your mother and I can watch over you.  Besides, Noel will be wondering where you are… even though she is the mostly likely to be confused by the situation.”

Beginning to shake again, the boys had a new fear. 

“What if she cries when she sees us?”  Neal asked.

“Or if she won’t have anything to do with us?”  Noah worried.

Seeing their points, Peter didn’t think it would be an issue for long.  “I’m sure she will react when she first sees you, but I think she will enjoy the chance to play with you closer to her size.”  He reassured them.

Pulling out his phone, Peter got the twins to face outwards with him while he took a quick picture.  Sending it to Elizabeth, he called her before she could receive it so he could explain first.  When she picked up, he proceeded to tell her what was going on and promised he had already sent her a picture.

Disconnecting the call, Peter answered her text as soon as it came through.  She was just as excited to make up for lost time as he was.

*******

Working with June, Peter borrowed her old car seats for her granddaughter and got the boys loaded into the car.  Driving home, he kept smiling into the back seat via the rearview mirror.  His smile caused the boys to smile, that turned into chuckles, and eventually that became all out laughter before he was pulling into the drive.

Having been watching out the window, Elizabeth was soon there helping the boy on her side out of his car seat while Peter got the other one out.  Hugging Noah tightly, she smiled through her tears as she lightly cried on his shoulder.  “You are so small.”  She couldn’t help but note.

Suddenly finding humor, he couldn’t help but remark.  “I’m five again, so of course I’m small.”

Laughing, Elizabeth could see his point.  “True, but it’s a big difference from thirty and bigger than me.”

Stepping back to ruffle her hair, Noah smiled.  “Just don’t forget, this is only temporary, so don’t rub the five year old stuff in too much.”

Looking aghast, Elizabeth pretended to be shocked.  “Did you just ruffle my hair young man?”  While Noah wasn’t sure how to react, Elizabeth got a glint in her eye.

“Oh, now you’ve done it, son.”  Peter warned playfully with a smile as he walked up carrying Neal.

Lunging forwards, Elizabeth caught Noah, lifted him, and swung him upside down before proceeding to carry him into the house like that.  Smiling at his laughter, she enjoyed giving him the different perspective on life. 

When she walked into the house, his laughter changed into shrieks as Satchmo joined in on the fun by licking his face. 

“Stop it Stach.”  Noah managed to gasp between his laughter.

Turning him back to being the right side up, Elizabeth helped him to dry his face off from the dog’s slobber.  “Is that taking the five year old stuff too far?”  She teased.

Laughing, Noah wasn’t sure.

“Okay, I think this needs further deliberation.”  Elizabeth promptly turned him back around and hung him upside down for Satchmo to lick his face some more.

Blocking his mouth from the dog’s licks, Noah pleaded.  “I give, mom.  I give.”

“Alright, I think that’s enough then.”  Elizabeth turned him back around.  “Now, what do you think we should do?”

“Should we make carrying the kids upside down a tradition?”  Peter asked as he decided to flip Neal for the fun of it.  “I think this is kind of fun, and the kids get a free washing…”  Looking down to where Satchmo was enthusiastically licking Neal’s face, he smiled at Neal’s laughter.

“Come on dad…”  Neal laughed.  “Stach… stop it.”  Patting Peter’s hand, Neal asked again.  “Dad, pick me back up.”

Turning him back to rights, Peter pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and offered it to him to wipe off the slobber.  “Gives you a different perspective on life, doesn’t it?”  He smiled.

Snorting lightly, Neal agreed.  “Having your dad let the family dog slobber all over you while he holds you upside down is a new perspective.”  He didn’t seem upset, but there was a little something to his voice.

“Neal…”  Peter started to explain his actions, but Neal interrupted.

“Don’t worry about it dad.”  Neal sighed.  “You just surprised me.  Mom never played with us like that… and if Ellen did, it was when we were too young to remember.”  He tucked his head into Peter’s shoulder again.

Patting him on the head, Peter held him closer.  “Which is why I’m glad for this, even if it’s only for a little while.”

For a moment, there was quiet comfort as Peter held Neal and Elizabeth held Noah.  Exchanging glances over there little heads, Peter and Elizabeth decided it was going to be a special weekend for all of them.

Before they could decide on what to do first, the answer padded down the hall upstairs.

Shifting Neal for better balance walking up the stairs, Peter went up to retrieve the three year old toddler peaking over the baby gate at the top.  “We have some people here for you to meet, Noel.”  He lifted her up to be on his other side.

Peaking around her father curiously, she watched Neal intently for a few moments while Peter walked them back down the stairs.  When they arrived in the living room with the others, she looked over at Elizabeth to see Noah shyly ducking out of sight.  “Neal?  Noah?”  She deduced, but still questioned as it didn’t seem quite right.

In answer to her question, and to confirm who was who, the twins responded with their nick names for her.

“Teddy.”  Neal smiled softly.

“Hey baby sis.” Noah waived lightly.

While they waited on bated breath, she stared at them with wide and wondering eyes.  Then she surprised them all.  “Does this mean I have to share my toys with them?”  She asked Peter as he was the nearest to her.

Stumped, Peter stared at her.  Gathering his wits after a moment, he answered with a smile.  “Maybe, they might want to play with some of them while they are actually your size.”  He answered.

“You’re not afraid of us?”  Neal asked in wonder.

Giving him her no nonsense look, that she had inherited from their father, she answered.  “Why would I be?”  Then she got a little nervous.  “Are mom and dad going to shrink too?”

Having walked over to join them, Elizabeth reached out to soother her daughter.  “No sweetheart, we aren’t going to be shrinking.”

Squeezing her gently like a hug, Peter also reassured her.  “This is just a dream come true, and although it isn’t going to last, we are going to enjoy it for now.”

“A dream?”  Noel questioned curiously.

“Yeah, like a heart’s wish come true.  See, wishes do come true.”  Peter bounced her playfully.  “Do you have any wishes?”

Tilting her head, Noel looked at her brothers questioningly before making her decision.  “Can we build a huge fort in the living room?”  Since they could fit down into small spaces with her, it was her chance to build the ultimate play space.

Smiling with Elizabeth, Peter shrugged.  They could deal with a messy house if it meant the most memorable weekend with their kids.

Tapping Noel on the nose, Elizabeth smiled enthusiastically.  “We can use the couch cushions, pillows, and pull some extra blankets from the linen closet upstairs for the biggest fort you have ever seen… right after breakfast.”  While the kids groaned, she held her ground as their mom.  When even Peter looked at her pleadingly, she explained.  “A good breakfast means you’ll have energy to build it faster, so how about we get started?”  She made it just another stage to the fun.

Giving in, the rest of the family began getting ready for breakfast.  The twins set the table, Peter got Noel settled into her high chair and made arrangements for boosting the twins up, and Elizabeth whipped up pancakes and scrambled eggs.  With the food prepped, they settled in to eat.

“What else should we do today?” Peter asked.

Taking advantage of his cuteness, Neal turned it on full blast.  “Can we make cookies?”

Ruffling his hair, Elizabeth smiled and couldn’t help but give in to such a face.  “After we build a fort we can make some cookies.”  She promised.

Wiggling with glee, Noel was excited about the day.  “This is the best day ever.”  She giggled.

Smiling in complete contentment, Peter had to agree.  His wife was smiling as she helped to feed their daughter, and both of his sons were sitting boosted up on books as they happily dug into breakfast as well.  It was something like the family breakfast he imagined having with them growing up.

*******

Standing back happily, Peter pulled out his phone to snap a shot of three excited faces peaking back at him from the fort they had built.  It stretched from the couch to the dining room chairs with a blanket roof, cushions and blankets created partitions, and toys performed functions such as the guard dog that was supposed to keep the evil Vikings away.  While the children pretended to be the village people, Peter and Elizabeth played the Vikings and tried to pillage and plunder.  They battled over a bag of gold chocolate coins that the twins had purchased for just such an occasion and had a ball playing together. 

After a while, the boys heard their stomachs rumble and decided it was time to find a snack. 

“Can we make the cookies now?”  Neal asked as he watched Elizabeth while secretly keeping a peripheral on Peter as he tried to sneak up on Noel.  “I can see you dad.”  He turned and shot him with a Nerf gun before focusing back on Elizabeth.

Trying not to laugh, Elizabeth watched Peter get up and trudge over to the Viking base where he got to come back to life.  Taking in the mini agent before her, she could see the child in him as he was small and had his hair all ruffled about from crawling through the fort or rough housing with Peter to fend off his attacks, but there was also a seriousness and hunting skills that reminded her that he was actually an adult agent.  Deciding that she wanted to have that memory too, she agreed.  “Truce everybody.  We are going to take a break and bake some cookies.”

While Noah and Noel crawled out of the fort, she asked for a vote as to which kind to make.  With a unanimous vote for chocolate chip, she led the procession into the kitchen to get started.

Dividing the work, she enlisted Peter for reaching the high stuff, Neal and Noel retrieved the low stuff, and Noah read off the instructions while Elizabeth mixed them together.  Once she had them mixed, she discovered that the new game was stealing dough.

Slapping Peter’s hand, she winked at the kids.  “None of that Peter, you’ll ruin your appetite.”

Pretending to whine, Peter played along mostly for Noel’s sake, who thought it was hilarious.  “Hey, the kids have been sneaking bites, but my hand gets slapped the first time I try?”

“Yes, you should know better.”  Elizabeth kissed him on the tip of his nose playfully.

Pulling her back for a proper kiss, Peter teased.  “I can skip cookie dough for that.”

Enjoying the family fun, the twins continued to sneak small bites of the dough for themselves or to pass to Noel with signs to be quiet.  In response, Noel would grin conspiringly as she held a finger to her lips for quiet and giggled.

After a few rounds, Elizabeth decided they had had enough.  “Aright now, there won’t be any left to have with milk if you eat it all now.”

Placing the first batch onto a cookie sheet, they began the process of cleaning up while they waited for them to cook.

Having pulled some chairs in, Neal stood on one to rinse the dishes, Peter washed, Noah sat on the counter and dried them, and Elizabeth worked with Noel to put them away.

Once the cleaning up was done, they pulled the first batch and set them out to cool before placing the next batch in.  Retrieving the rest of the chairs, they set up a game around the table for lunch and began to play once they could sit down and eat. 

*******

Eventually, they all began to feel the effects of the excitement and it looked like naps were in order. 

Moving to the living room, they disassembled the fort and got it put away before Peter decided to curl up in the recliner for a snooze.  Seeing the twins’ eyes drooping too, he picked them up and settled in with one on either side of him.  With heads resting on his chest again, they were soon sound asleep. 

Although she took longer, Noel began to look sleepy too, so Elizabeth picked her up and placed her on Peter’s chest in the middle of her brothers.  Smiling as she ran a hand acrossed each of their heads, Elizabeth couldn’t help but kiss Peter at the sight of him sleeping there with all three of their children cuddled into him.  Taking a picture to remember it by, Elizabeth moved to curl up on the couch for a nap herself.

Since the rest of the family was settled in to sleep, even Satchmo decided that it was time for a nap and curled up on the floor in front of Elizabeth.

Reaching down to pet him, she talked quietly.  “I think we are all enjoying this redo.  What it might have been like to be there for the twins when they were little, a solid family environment for them, and something of experiencing siblings her age for Noel.”  Scratching behind one of his ears she added, “Even you are getting to play with all three of them as little kids.”  Yawning as she leaned back to curl up and drift off to sleep, she had happy thoughts of her family.

*******

Waking up, Peter’s mind took a few moments to catch up to the alien feeling of three kids sleeping on his chest.  Lifting his head up to where he could see them, he noticed that Noel had her thumb in her mouth, Neal had his little fist loosely curled up by his face, and Noah had his hand lightly stretched out on Peter’s chest.  Raising his arms, Peter shifted the throw blanket to act as a pillow and hold his head up, moved to wrap the three children in his arms, and then settled back to watch his family sleep. 

Stroking Neal’s and Noah’s heads gently, he looked over to where Elizabeth was also stretched out and sleeping with Satchmo on the floor beside her.  Was this what it was like having three children running around the house?  A messy, loud, and heart breaking experience that he wouldn’t miss for the world? Sure, their experience wasn’t the typical as his sons were technically miniaturized thirty year old agents, but they did seem to have some childish characteristics.  For instance, neither of them would curl up on his chest, they were too big to carry around, they didn’t tend to cry on his shoulder, and they weren’t exactly prone to play in forts when they were big.  So, although they were generally adults in a smaller size, there was also something of the children they looked like too.

Feeling a shift, he looked down to see that Noah was starting to wake up.  Moving his hand down to his shoulder, Peter rubbed gently as Noah moved and began to take his hand over his face softly as if to wipe away the sleep.

Whispering so that he didn’t disturb the other two, Peter asked as his eyes opened.  “How did you sleep?”

Yawning, Noah rubbed his eyes to help them stay open.  “Considering that I woke up the size of a five year old this morning?  Surprisingly well.”  Looking up at Peter, he smiled.  “I see you’re still enjoying taking every advantage of this.”

“You bet.  It’s not every day you get to make up for lost time with two sons you didn’t even know existed the first time they were little.”  Turning serious, he continued to explain the situation from his perspective.  “When you and Neal were little, James had caused you to be placed in wit-sec so he wasn’t there to be a father figure for you, and I didn’t know you even existed, so there was no father figure in your lives.  On the other side though, I spent years wishing that your mother hadn’t cheated on me, that we had had children, and that we could be the happy family we have been able to be today.  A few years past, I was better able to deal with our marriage falling apart, but there was still that hole, that place where kids were supposed to be.  Then I met Elizabeth, and she was everything your mother wasn’t in the sense of loyalty, she stood by my side through several situations and I can trust her to continue doing so.  Still, there was that hole in my life, something was missing, and I couldn’t figure it out.”  Smiling, he continued to tell his story.  “What changed everything was the office doing a random genetics test that led me to discovering you and your brother.  Suddenly, that hole wasn’t there anymore.  It was like I knew you were out there, even though I didn’t actually know.”  Skipping ahead, he told him about the last weight that had been bothering him.  “The only part that still felt wrong was that your mother never told me about you, so I missed the first couple of decades of your lives.”  He fell silent, that was as close as he wanted to go to placing his burden on his son’s shoulders.

“And you have been beating yourself up about it ever since.”  Neal had figured it out anyway.  “We are agents trained to read people, and your sons dad.  Of course we figured it out.”  He breathed deeper as he revealed he was actually awake and eaves dropping.

“So, you have me all figured out, huh?”  Peter questioned lightly.  He didn’t think they could fathom just how much it hurt to miss out on time with his children.

“No, we don’t know what it is like to miss time with children, but we do know what it is like to miss time with a father.”  Looking at Peter in full seriousness, he shared the burden that the twins had been feeling and eased some of Peter’s load.  “Like you said, we grew up with a hole of our own, we learned you existed but had questions about why you weren’t in our lives, and then I started getting to know you.  Based on how you treated me as your CI, I knew you were the father figure we had always wanted.  Then the office decided to compare our genetics and you learned about us, we learned why you hadn’t been around, and we began bonding as a family without the secrets.  Still, like you said, there was something missing.  A lifetime of bonding opportunities, those little things like you tucking us into bed, or protecting us from mom’s other boyfriends.”  Catching his slip, he pushed past it in an attempt to not have to explain any further.  “You have been trying to hide your pain at missing time with us, but we have the same pain from the other side.  There is nothing that we can do to make up for so much, even with us deaged for a while, but we can push forwards to make other memories and experiences of bonding moments instead.  That probably isn’t going to help you, but maybe you will stop trying to hide it so much...” 

Stretching on the couch, Elizabeth added her two cents worth to the conversation.  “I’m sure Ellen took care of anyone dumb enough to try and hurt them Peter.  They’re right, we can’t go back and make up for lost time, but we can make some new memories to hold on to when they are big again.”

Snorting, Noah followed up.  “Ellen made sure everyone left the picture as soon as she learned they were a bad influence, she was always extra observant when a new one was around as she had noticed mom’s propensity to make bad decisions, and we could always turn to her if anything didn’t seem right to us.  Basically, she was like an aunt to us… performing like a female version of you to make sure we grew up safely.”  Looking Peter in the eyes to convey his honesty, he told Peter what he really wanted to know.  “Nothing ever really happened, it was the possibility that scared us a few times.”

Hugging the twins closer, Peter jostled Noel with his movements.  As she started to wake up, he shifted the whole group to more of a sitting position.  While Neal and Noah were ready to get up and go again, Noel was still more interested in sleeping.

Careful not to jostle their little sister, the twins climbed down gently and looked about as they tried to decide what to do next.

Making the decision for them, Elizabeth went mom on them again.  “How about you boys get ready?  We don’t know how long you are going to be deaged, so we might as well get you something else to sleep in and something to wear tomorrow.”

Despite disliking the idea of shopping in the children’s department, the twins understood her reasoning.

Furrowing his brows, Neal came up with a problem and the solution.  “Well, people might wonder why we suddenly need clothes, so I guess our cover story can be that we are visiting family, but our luggage got lost at the airport.  It would explain why we don’t have anything, but also don’t need much.”

Tapping him on the nose, Elizabeth congratulated him on handling the situation so well.  “I guess that takes care of that then.  Come on, let’s go shopping.”  She beamed at the bonding opportunity.

It didn’t take very long for them to get ready to go, bid Peter farewell, and leave him with Noel snuggled in his lap.

*******

When Elizabeth returned with the twins, Noel was awake and happily playing on the floor.

“How did the shopping trip go?”  Peter asked with a smile.

Neal glared at him slightly.  “As you can guess, the children’s department doesn’t have anything appealing to an adult.”  His fashion sense wasn’t very well satisfied with the trip.

Noah on the other hand, was beaming.  “They have some decent action figure and superhero stuff though.”

Amused, Peter listened to them with pure enjoyment.  Looking up to Elizabeth, he wondered what she would share from the trip.

Turning the answer to the twins, she asked them.  “Why don’t you share about the lady we met?”

Snorting, the twins weren’t amused.

“She accused mom of dragging us out of the house without even putting shoes on us, like mom would ever do anything like that.”  Neal said in frustration.

“Based on the way she acted, you would think mom was neglectful and guilty of child abandonment.”  Noah was slightly angered by the woman’s assumptions.

Looking a bit upset, Peter didn’t like those assumptions either.

Having ruffled their protective feathers, Elizabeth tried to sooth the three of them by relaying the part she had enjoyed.  “That doesn’t matter, we know better than some random person in the store.  Back to the point, in response to her accusations, the twins went off in a story.”  She paused to laugh lightly before she continued.  “Imagine these two in full five year old mode as they played up their appearance all innocently.  Then, imagine them taking turns while they spin a dramatic tale about their parents getting hurt, an emergency flight to stay with us, their luggage getting lost in transit, and something about being carried through the airport in their sleep so they missed their shoes falling off.”  Having reached the end of the story, she looked to see if anyone else was as amused as she was.

Seeing her point, Peter could imagine the effect his sons would have on some unsuspecting woman who had subtly made false accusations about their mom… no wonder Elizabeth had enjoyed her tiny white knights defending her honor. 

“She blushed, and left rather quickly after they were done with her.”  Elizabeth added with a wink towards Peter.  “I don’t hold any ill will against her, she was just watching out for a couple of helpless kids… albeit in a rather nosy way, but still.”  She shrugged.

While Peter got the twins to talk through some of their frustrations, Elizabeth focused on getting dinner ready for the evening.  Although she was also concerned about the twins, she had never known their mother, so she wasn’t able to participate in the conversation in the same way.  Still, she listened from the kitchen and learned some more about the issues that Paige had put them through.

When she reached a point that she was down to the last few parts, she gently asked the boys to get the table set.

Taking advantage of a moment alone in the kitchen with Peter, she asked if the boys were okay.

“Yeah, I think they are fine.  Although Paige really did do some of the things that the woman accused you of, they did have Ellen there to fill in the gaps.”  Peter assured her.

*******

After a subdued dinner, Peter and Elizabeth tucked Noel in for the night while the twins picked a movie.

Walking back down the hall towards the stairs, Peter paused for a moment as something struck him.  “You know… we should really tuck the boys in too.  They have never experienced that, and we haven’t either.”  It was an emotional thought for him, the chance to be able to tuck his sons in at least one time.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll fall asleep on the couch so you can carry them up the stairs too.”  She smiled as she kissed him.

Enjoying that picture, Peter liked the idea.  “Maybe…”  He agreed as they walked down the stairs.

*******

About halfway through the movie, Neal and Noah were starting to nod off. 

Elizabeth was settled at the end of the couch playing with Neal’s hair, Neal was curled into Peter’s side, Peter had his arms stretched around the boys, Noah was curled into Peter from the other side at the end of the couch, and Satchmo was snoozing on the floor by his feet.

Noah felt safe with his father’s strong arm around him and their family dog at his feet, Neal felt that all was right in the world with his family safely around him, Peter enjoyed having his sons curled up into him as they drifted off to sleep, and Elizabeth was just happy that her family was happy.

When the credits rolled, Peter beamed as he picked Noah up in one arm, and then shifted to pick Neal up in the other.  Elizabeth closed the last few things up for the night and followed closely behind him.

Helping Peter, she assisted him in gently laying the twins down on the air mattresses arranged for them.  Then working together, they got them tucked in and wished them goodnight.

After Elizabeth had said her goodnight and moved to the door, Peter remained behind and kissed them each on their heads before running his hand over their heads and shoulders.  He still couldn’t believe he had been given the chance to take care of them as children, to cuddle them, carry them, and tuck them in with a wish goodnight.

Moving to join Elizabeth at the door, he smiled and wrapped his arm around her to hold her close.  “Noel was right, this is the best day ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing/commenting, leaving kudos, following, and choosing to favorite my stories and I:D
> 
> I have changed the cover art and finished writing the ideas for this collection since I last posted in it. There are three more chapters to this story before this concept is complete with no current plans for continuation.


	4. White Collar Wonder

**White Collar Wonder**

*******

Waking up in the middle of the night, Peter wasn’t sure what had disturbed him.  Listening, he heard the muffled cry again.  One of the children was having a bad dream.

Climbing out of bed, Peter tried to move quietly so that he wouldn’t wake Elizabeth up.  Slipping out the door, he snuck down the hall until he reached the nursery.  Cracking the door ajar, he peaked in to see what the children were doing.  Seeing that Noel was still resting peacefully, he turned to the twins.  Noah also seemed to be settled, but Neal was tossing in his sleep.  Creeping the rest of the way into the room, he tip toed his way past Noah’s mattress, and lowed himself down next to Neal’s.

Reaching out, Peter shook his shoulder gently to wake him from whatever was troubling him.  As Neal continued to moan and cry, he picked him up gently and moved him into the hall. Then he carried him down the stairs until they were in the living room.  Settling into the recliner, he held Neal in his lap and cuddled him into his chest. 

Neal still refused to wake up.  Peter tried several techniques to rouse him from his nightmares, but Neal seemed to be utterly trapped.

Unable to do anything more, Peter settled in to provide physical comfort to Neal since he couldn’t get him to wake up.  Rubbing the boy up and down his back, acrossed his shoulders, and cradling the back of his head, Peter tried to reassure Neal that the dream wasn’t real, that he was safe and sound.  Despite his best intentions though, Neal continued to moan and cry as he shifted in his dreams.

Prepared to spend as much time as necessary, Peter got comfortable and settled in for the long haul.

At points, Neal would settle down and appear to be sleeping peacefully so Peter would doze off and rest too, but then another point would come where Neal would start up his nightmare again and Peter would resume his efforts to calm and comfort him.

The night wasn’t the most restful night’s sleep Peter had ever had, but it was one that he would always cherish because it was the only time that he ever got to comfort Neal like that.

*******

Waking up in the morning, Peter noticed that Neal was rather tired and confused when he also woke up.

“What’s going on… the last thing I remember was when you carried us upstairs and tucked us in?”  He questioned as he realized that he wasn’t on the air mattress like he remembered.

“You were awake for that?  Peter was surprised.

“Yeah, but too tired to speak very loud.”  He yawned.

“Do you remember what you were dreaming about?”  Maybe Neal could talk it through since he was awake?  Peter was hopeful, but he doubted it by the look on Neal’s face.

“Dreaming?  Is that why we’re back down here?”  Neal wondered.

Yawning himself, Peter answered.  “Yeah, you were crying and moaning in your sleep, but I couldn’t wake you up, so I brought you down here.  You don’t remember what was so upsetting, do you?”  He asked again.

“No, not at the moment anyway.  Sometimes I remember my dreams later, after I start to wake up for the day.”  He shrugged.

“Let me know if you need to talk about it.  Whatever it was, it seemed to be pretty upsetting and it had you in its grip… nothing I tried would wake you up or calm you down.”

Subdued, Neal tried to remember what had been so upsetting.  After a while though, he couldn’t get back to sleep or remember, so he decided that he would be better off getting going for the day.  “I can’t remember what it was or get back to sleep.  Do you want the shower fist?” 

“How about you take your shower and I will start the coffee.”  Peter offered.

“Deal.”  Neal tried to keep from yawning.

“Those are contagious you know.”  Peter teased as he ruffled Neal’s hair once he was standing beside the chair.

Turning back to hug Peter, Neal had one more thing to say before he headed up.  “Thanks dad, for everything.”

Returning the hug, Peter buried his face into his little shoulder before pulling him as close as he could to fully hug him.  “Anytime son, anytime.  I love you.”

“Love you too, dad.”  Neal said and headed off to shower.

*******

Once he was done getting dressed, Peter checked on the other two kids to find that they were still sleeping.  Heading downstairs, he passed Elizabeth on her way to the shower.

 “Where did you go last night, you weren’t there when I woke up?”  She asked as she kissed him good morning.

“Neal was having nightmares most of the night.  I heard him, but he wouldn’t wake up, so I took him downstairs.”  He sounded as tired as he looked.

“Aw, honey.”  Elizabeth hugged him.  “Does he remember what was so upsetting to him?”

“Not when we talked earlier, but he did say that he sometimes remembers his dreams later in the day after he has gotten going.” 

“Maybe he will remember later then.”  Elizabeth gave him a parting kiss before moving to the bathroom.

Continuing down the stairs, Peter hoped Neal would remember.  After watching his distress most of the night, he was concerned as to what the cause could be.

Reaching the living room, he noticed that Neal was stretched out acrossed the couch with his face down and his arm hanging off towards the floor.  Based on how depressed he looked, he must have remembered what the dreams had been about.

“Up you go.”  Peter said as he lifted Neal high into the air before shifting his so that he was cuddled into his lap as he sat down where Neal had been.  “I take it that you have remembered what those nightmares were about, so spill.  What had you so distressed that you moaned, cried, and tossed in your sleep all night, but was so gripping that you wouldn’t wake up no matter what I tried?”

“It doesn’t matter, because it will never be.”  Neal tried to hedge away from describing it.  “My mind was just creating ‘what might have been scenarios.’”

Not taking no for an answer, Peter pushed him to explain.

Sighing, Neal knew that Peter was concerned, so he might as well give up and get it over with.  “It’s just, what if something like this happened, and you still didn’t know that I am your son?  My mind was running down a path where the team had never done that test, where I continued to spend years watching you and mom as an outsider.”

Frowning, Peter didn’t like several things about that.  “For one, what makes you think that you were an outsider before I knew I am your father?”

“I was your CI, not a member of the family.  Sure, I was a friend that you treated like extended family, but I wasn’t actually family.”  Neal seemed to be in a mood as a result of his dreams.

“Now you listen here Neal.”  Peter got an authoritative tone to his voice.  “I took you on as my CI because I liked you, then I became friends with you as we worked together, and it didn’t take too long before you became one of the best friends that I have ever had.  You were like the little brother I never had and the son I didn’t know you are, you have been family since… I don’t have a clue when.  Discovering that you were family only made it official for me.”  Then he got a nervous tone to his voice as he questioned Neal’s perspective.  “Did I ever treat you like an outsider?”

Seeing what his words had done, Neal tried to rectify the resulting worry.  “No, not really.  I mean, you were pretty mad a few times when you thought I had slipped, but that was because you were upset with the situation.  It’s my dreams dad… You didn’t know that I was your son, so I had to watch you and mom have this happy life, all the while wishing you knew, that I could experience it with you.  Sure, I was welcome to come around, and I helped with your projects, but it wasn’t the same.  There was still this distinct separation, I was the con, and you were the cop.”

“And that was real before… I’m sorry son.”  Peter hugged him closer as he lowered his head to rest on Neal’s.  “There are so many things I wish I could go back and change.”  Then he laughed softly.  “Still… you didn’t have to play the role so well.”  He tickled Neal a little bit to try and lighten the situation.  “You played the slippery con so well that I actually believed it.”

Having shared his concerns, Neal understood their origins.  Grateful, he was glad he had a father with such listening ears and an open heart that was ready to cover him in love when he needed it.  “I was undercover with an assignment to complete.  Besides, I didn’t know how you would handle the reveal if I had been allowed to share anything.”

Tickling him until he began to laugh and squirm, Peter enjoyed distracting him from the depressing emotions that the dreams had dredged up.  “Hey, I didn’t react badly when I did discover it all… I was rather shocked, but then again who would see something like that coming?”

Sliding down Peter’s legs like a slide as he endeavored to get away from his father’s tickling hands, Neal reached Peter’s feet before he was picked back up and settled into his lap again.

“So, your mind was a bit overloaded with such a good day that it had to dredge up reasons to doubt it, to make it a dream.  Then your mind tortured you all through the night by playing scenes that had happened, but with the emotional overtone that you were actually an outsider so they weren’t how you remembered.  That upset you enough that your mind had to work through what was wrong with it, but as they were dreams, you remained asleep and puzzling despite my efforts to wake you up.  And, although you have been family for a long time, that emotional distance came from the beginning of our partnership where we were learning to trust each other.”  Peter summed it up.  “Does that sound about right?”

Nodding into his father’s shoulder, Neal was beginning to feel better about the situation.

“Just remember, that was your dream.  We haven’t been cop and con in several years, you were my family before I even knew that you had slipped past my barriers, and you are my son, you always will be.”  Peter reassured him.

Thinking, Neal had a question he needed answered.  “Hypothetically, what do you think would have happened if I had been deaged, but you didn’t know that I am your son?”

“Hypothetically, of course, I think the same thing with some differences.  If Noah had continued to be a secret then he wouldn’t have been here.  Noel wouldn’t know you as her big brother, so you would have been introduced to her as ‘uncle’ Neal.  Depending on how much of your past I was aware of, we either would have known that you needed the childhood experience, or thought that you were more deaged than just physically.”  Making sure that Neal was looking him in the eyes, he wanted the last part to get through to him.  “No matter what though, I would have still brought you here.  You would have been welcome in my home, and I would never leave you alone to deal with something like this.”

“Even as a con artist?”  Neal added.

Hugging him back into his chest, Peter answered.  “Even as a con artist.  I loved you even more than you know, I just wouldn’t admit it directly.  Instead, I found it easier to say that I didn’t want to do the paperwork if you got hurt, or yell at you for risking jail time, but it all meant that I cared and wanted something better for you.”

“Thanks dad, I knew that you were my dad before I met you, but you were like a father even before you knew it.”  Neal hugged him back.

Kissing him on the head, Peter lost a tear or two in his hair.  “Thank you.  I needed to hear that.”

*******

Their quiet weekend was interrupted when the phones began to ring after breakfast.

Answering their separate phones, Peter and Elizabeth both found themselves being called in to work.  After finishing up the conversations, they looked at the kids and tried to come up with a plan as to how to handle the situations.

“Noel can go with her usual sitter, but the twins…”  Peter puzzled.  “The office wants me to bring both of them in to help on the case.”

“Have you told anyone about us being deaged?”  Neal asked as he switched into his problem solving mode.  At Peter’s negative answer, he had a suggestion.  “Then take us to work.  The team will have to believe it when they see us.  Although we had better stay in the office, we do still have our minds that can be helpful.”

“The office only.  It’s bad enough worrying about you in the field as adults, that isn’t anything to how much can go wrong with you the size of five year olds.”  Peter was forced to agree.

With plans laid out, the group divided to get ready to go.

*******

Walking through security, Peter was amused by all of the sideways looks that he kept getting.  “People are questioning why I am coming to work with two five year olds, but also confused why you look and act like yourselves in miniature.”  He smirked in the elevator to the concern of the rest of the passengers in the car.

Flipping his oversized fedora onto his head, Neal tipped it up to smirk at a familiar team secretary from Organized Crime.  “Of course they are.  Who expects us to be the size of five year olds for no explainable reason?”

“Caffrey?”  She stuttered.  It was shocking to the rest of them as well.

“Yep, only miniaturized for some reason… we woke up this way yesterday.”  Neal shrugged in his mini suit.

“I have seen some crazy things in my work with the government, but this one does take the cake.”  Noah added.  He was wearing dress slacks and a nice shirt as a less formal version of his brother.

“Elizabeth got them these outfits just in case they continue to be deaged for any length of time.  That worked out as we have been called in for a case where both of our teams are working together.”  Peter added with a shrug.

“This is going to be an interesting day.  I haven’t seen my team since the last time I was killed in the field...”  Noah was frowning slightly nervously.  “Chuck is my best friend, and I haven’t been allowed to contact him in years.”

The other passengers fell silent as they mulled over that.  No one had known that Noah had government history.

When they reached the twenty first floor, Peter exited the elevator first and the twins followed him.  Entering their office, they heard the gasps from every direction.

Sighing, Peter continued to lead them up to the landing.  “Okay, assemble everyone.  We have a few announcements to make.”

Once everyone was collected on the floor, he addressed them at the same time.  “As you can see, Neal and Noah are the size of five year olds.  We have no idea why for sure, only that they woke up this way yesterday.  Because of their current size, they will be assisting from the office only until they regain their normal size.”

Hands were raised throughout the room.  Most were in serious concern and curiosity, but a few were humorous. 

“Would either of you like to have some milk and cookies?”  Jones asked with a smile.

“They might, right after they wake up from their afternoon nap.”  Diana had to add in teasing.

“I just want to take pictures of them so small.”  The team’s secretary couldn’t help but add. 

Amused, Peter was glad the team was accepting the situation so well.  “You are free to take pictures if they let you, but don’t be mean about it.  As for treating them like five year olds, they have been taking some advantage of it because their mother… well, things weren’t exactly great the first time around.  Still, they are at work right now, so we need to focus on the case, which leads me to the second announcement that we need to share.”  With the office focused and attentive again, he moved on to the next topic.  “Neal and Noah are the boys’ real names, but they both have another history that hasn’t been shared with the team before.  Boys.” 

Taking the floor, Neal told a little more of his story.  “I am not cleared to share anything, but as it might come up when the other team arrives… the FBI isn’t the only agency that I work for.  The deep background-check that uncovered dad was done by the government for my employment, when I was twenty one.”

While the audience was still reeling from that shock, Noah stepped forwards and added to it.

“Mine is more likely to come up as this is my team that is coming in.  I also can’t share anything about my work, but I too have worked for the government since we were twenty one.”

Shrugging, Peter was proud to finally admit it.  “What can I say, but apparently being agents runs in the family.”

There weren’t any questions voiced for that reveal.  The office had gotten the point that they couldn’t share anything, that it was just a friendly forewarning just in case a situation developed, but their expressions showed that their minds were full of questions.

Splitting up, Peter went to get caught up on his leadership position, the twins went to wait for the other team to arrive as they had flown in, and the rest of the team returned to their activities.

*******

Neal was settled in at his desk and drawing pictures on a piece of paper while he waited for a search to come through on his computer. Hearing the elevator, he smiled to himself.  This was going to be a fun introduction to his brother’s friend and his team!

Entering the office, the team was generally talking about something or another, Neal wasn’t paying attention to the topic, but it was obvious when they noticed him.

“Hey, this kid is like a mini version of Bryce.  Seriously Chuck, is it just me, or does he remind you of Bryce?”  Morgan commented.

Neal didn’t say anything to them, he simply hollered off into the office “Noah” and continued to draw while he pretended not to observe.

“Don’t.  Say.  Anything.”  Bryce said at first.  He didn’t want to hear any jokes, the FBI had already come up with plenty of them.  Transitioning into the introductions, he continued, “I see you have met…”  At their bewildered looks he amended “or sort of met my older twin brother.”

Pointing his pen at Morgan, Neal corrected him after giving the team the full effect of their being two of them.  “I’m not a mini version of Bryce, I’m a mini version of Danny, the older twin.”

While the team stared back and forth between the two of them in bewilderment, Noah directed them to follow him up to the conference room where they could talk in private.  “Come on, we need to talk.”

As they walked up together, Noah talked to Neal.  “I guess I finally get to introduce you to my team since I have met yours.”

Snorting, Neal knew that he didn’t have many to introduce.  “That didn’t take long, I just have dad’s team here at the FBI and a handler for my agency.”

“Dad… brother…?”  Chuck finally got the voice to question.

“Did he… did he like come back to life, as a kid?”  Morgan asked the ridiculous question.

Ushering them into the conference room, Noah put off the questions for another moment.  Waiting until they were all seated, then he started into his story.

“Okay guys, to make this short as we have a case to solve, here are the basics.  My real name is Noah Caffrey Burke.  Mom married agent Burke right out of high school, but she cheated on him prolifically so they got a divorce.  When she left, she was pregnant with my older brother Neal and I, but she didn’t tell dad anything except for a note a few years later that she was going into Wit-sec.  Why?  Because she went on to marry a DC cop who turned out to be corrupt on our third birthday and his actions landed us all in the system.  When my brother and I turned eighteen, we left, were given the Larkin identities, and went off to college.  There we were each recruited, the deep background checks turned up the existence of our real father that we had never known about, and I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of our careers. As for why we are the size of five year olds, we haven’t a clue as this is how we woke up yesterday.”

“So that’s a no.”  Morgan muttered to himself.

Taking the first position to question, Chuck was still staring at Noah.  “How did you survive, and why didn’t you contact us?”

Sighing, Noah knew that they weren’t going to like his answers.  “I was taken by the enemy and revived again.  As for why I didn’t notify you… well there are several reasons behind that, but the main one had to do with several government agencies ordering me against that for various reasons.”

“Bryce…”  Chuck was getting angry.

“I have the lives of my entire family to protect too, Chuck.”  Noah raised his voice above Chuck’s.  “Enemies were closing in from every direction, so it was best to lay low and not draw attention to the fact that I was still alive.”  He lowered his voice as he finished.

Calming down, Chuck understood.  He wouldn’t have contacted Noah if doing so would endanger his family, so why should he hold a grudge against Noah for doing the same thing?  “I’m sorry man, but I’m glad that you survived.”  Smiling, Chuck gave Noah a hug.  “This is kind of weird with you being so small.”

Laughing, Noah hugged him back.  “Try it from this side why don’t you.”

The others laughed too.  “I guess that would be rather odd.”  Chuck agreed.

Once they stepped apart and the group started into introductions, Neal joined the conversation.  “Hi Chuck, my brother has told me a lot about you over the years.”  He shook the man’s hand.

“Hi, Neal right?”  When Neal nodded, he continued.  “It’s nice to meet you too.”  The he smiled.  “So, you’re the other famous Larkin…”  He left off saying that he had heard the legends of Neal.

Nodding his head, Neal flipped his hat around trick style in acknowledgement.  “Indeed I am, but keep those stories to yourself.”

Grunting, Casey was impressed.

Giving Noah a kiss on the cheek, Sarah didn’t have much to say at first as there was still a lot to adjust to.  “I’m glad that you are alive too.”  She wasn’t flirting with him, she was simply acknowledging their past relationship, but as it was on the cheek, it meant she had moved on.

Ducking in the door, Peter checked in on them.  “Boys, the team is ready for the meeting.”

Introducing them, Noah enjoyed his father getting to meet his friend.  “Dad, this is Chuck and his team Sarah, Casey, and Morgan.  Guys, this is my dad, agent Peter Burke.”

Smiling happily, Peter was thrilled to meet his other son’s best friend and the rest of the team.  “It’s a pleasure to finally get to meet you.  He has been talking about you ever since we met.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well.  I’m learning a lot about the family today it seems.”  Chuck loved the chance to get to know more about the real man behind his friend.

Exchanging the initial meet and greets, the team then settled into the chairs as the rest of the White Collar team filed in.

*******

At the end of the long day, Peter was driving the twins home so they could get a good night’s sleep before returning to the case the next morning.

“What do you think about the case?”  He asked the mini agents in his back seat.

Frowning, they both seemed to have the same general opinion. 

“Spies.”  Neal said.

“Definitely, there are spies involved somehow.  The big problem there is that we don’t know who they are, how many we are looking for, where they are embedded, or how long they have been embedded… which means our backs might be exposed.”  Noah added in concern.  As the resident agent who had been shot in the back, his concern was a valid one and given due attention.

“Any theories?”  Peter continued to ask for their opinions.

Taking the lead as an engineer, Noah described what was going on.  “Someone is after something that they perceive to be found in the FBI database, but as none of the other offices have had the disruption, it is particularly in the New York office.  Then, since the White Collar office is the division that has been flagged, I would assume they think Neal is me, or that he can lead them to me, which makes me think that the target is most likely to be the Intersect.”

Picking up the theories from there, Neal added some details of his own.  “Or they want me to do some form of artistic rendering to hide information in an Intersected style.  I have been asked to do such tasks for the CIA before, but I don’t want to think of how high the leak has to be for that information to get out.”

Staring down the road for a few moments, Peter really didn’t like to think that his boys were being targeted.  Before he could pick the conversation back up again, something caught everyone’s attention.

A car was approaching too fast for the back industrial road they were on.  Despite the light traffic and relatively empty sidewalks, it was still an area known for large trucks and slower moving vehicles.  When they weren’t slowing down, changing lanes, or even attempting to stop, Peter switched into defensive driving mode.  Apparently, they were already under attack.

Moving to pass the vehicle in front of him and take their attacker on a street chase, Peter was dismayed to see them blocking his avenue of escape.  Pinned in between the car that was climbing on him and the car that was keeping him from getting out of the way, there wasn’t much Peter could do.

Crashing into the rear of the car, the initial attacker made impact and shoved the car sideways.  While Peter was trying to straighten the car out and make his escape, another car slammed into the side of the vehicle causing them to spin around some more.  Endeavoring to keep the car under some semblance of control, one final vehicle made its run.  A large truck did the final push to flip the car upside down.

Hitting his head into the window, Peter was knocked unconscious as glass shattered throughout the car.  The flying glass cut the side of his head and left a few minor abrasions to his hands so Peter was left hanging upside down with blood dripping from his head and hands.

Protected in the car seats, the twins were only left dazed from the impact.

It didn’t take long before the men from the vehicles were outside of the car.  Prying the doors open, they divided to pull their victims out of the car and drag them over to a nearby alley where they were less likely to be interrupted.

“Who would have thought that the lead of the White Collar team would have two five year old sons?”  One laughed.

“What can we do with them…?”  Another pretended to contemplate with an evil humor.

“Don’t… ‘eave ‘hem alone.”  Peter said as he began to regain consciousness.

“We can’t do that now… that would be leaving witnesses.”  Someone else commented.

While Peter tried to struggle, the twins watched and tried to gather as much information about the crew as they could.

Noticing their quiet attention to details, one man punched Neal to the ground before moving to strike Noah as well.

Bucking and fighting to protect his sons, Peter did his best to get free, but in his weakened state, he was unable to do anything more than antagonize them.

Beating him back into submission, two of the men held Peter down while another two thoroughly pummeled his back and torso until he was struggling just to breathe.

Upset by the beating their father was taking, the twins struggled in reaction and tried to reach Peter’s side.

Growing frustrated with the fighting, the man who appeared to be the leader ordered that the family be thoroughly pinned down.  “We need to get this done before someone stumbles into the area.  The boss ordered us to make sure we kill them as a notice for the rest of the teams to back off.”

Feeling his heart beating out of his chest, Peter couldn’t contain his terror for the boys.  Suddenly his worst fear was being realized as he was watching his children be held down by someone with evil intent before they were going to kill them.

“I think we ought to kill the little ones first so that the agent here gets the full effect… the problem is how graphically we should go about that.”  The leader continued to muse, drawing out the mental and emotional torture for as long as possible.

Fighting his emotions, Peter couldn’t actually say anything, so he was trapped in miserable silence.  Torn between the desire to be aware of every last second, and the instincts to turn away, to not see his sons’ deaths, Peter battled back and forth with himself internally.  Turning to see the boys in turn, they were each looking determined to fight until the end, but being thoroughly pinned down meant that there wasn’t going to be a fight at all.  When they turned to return his looks, neither one looked to be particularly worried for themselves, but they were both extremely worried for him and the other twin.  Feeling his heart constrict in fear more than he had ever felt before, Peter didn’t how it wasn’t affecting him, how he continued to be perfectly aware of where the attackers were standing, where each twin was pinned down, and just how easy their murders were going to be for these people.

With tears running down his face, Peter wished with every part of his being, he wished that the twins would return to their normal size.  He knew that he would be giving up the precious bonding time with them like five year olds, but he also knew he would be gaining the rest of a lifetime of bonding with them as adults.  Otherwise, they would all three die in some random back alley of a deserted industrial part of the city, and that wasn’t something to be tolerated.

With his vision graying as he lost focus, Peter saw that something was happening, but he had to rely on his hearing to vaguely keep up with what was going on around him.

“That’s better.”  The deeper voice of an adult Neal said accompanied by their captors shocked gasps.

“Now, what were you saying about killing the two ‘little ones?’”  Noah growled as he gave the only warning that was to be forthcoming before the fight.

Scrambling to regain control of the situation, the assailants attempted to regain a grip on the twins, but it was already too late.

Decking the person on one side and then the other, the twins quickly made it to their feet.  Moving together, they divided into a synchronized attack. 

Neal launched himself in the direction of the leader who had thought it so funny to kill two kids before their father’s eyes.  His goal was to take down the leader for the highest link to those behind the attack and to remove the person giving orders so as to disorganize the remaining assailants.

Noah moved in a lighting assault on the men holding Peter hostage.  His goal was to get Peter to safety, prevent them from doing any further damage in injuring him, and to keep the assailants from using him against them as a hostage.

With the leadership and leverage removed from the group, the rest of them didn’t last long against such a determined assault.  The twins quickly had them unarmed and rendered unconscious.

After making certain that the last of the assailants was unarmed and none of them would be regaining consciousness anytime soon, Neal moved to join Noah at their father’s side.

“Peter… dad?”  He asked in concern.

Groaning, Peter couldn’t get enough air to say anything.  Between the concussion, bruised torso, and fractured ribs, he was struggling to retain consciousness himself.  Squeezing their hands gently in return, he did manage to let them know that he was listening to them.

Sighing in relief, Neal gently rubbed his shoulder.  “Hang in their dad.  Everything is going to be alright.”  Then he moved away and took his phone out to begin making calls.

“Jones, trace my call.  We have an entire attack squad of assailants down here for the teams to come pick up.”  Listening for a moment, he finished his report.  “Noah and I are back to our usual selves so we took them down, but dad was hurt pretty bad between the bumper cars and the men beating him.  Yeah, he is going to need an ambulance.  I’ll call mom and let her know to get Noel.”  Ending the conversation, he switched to making the more difficult call.

“Mom…”  When Elizabeth noticed that his voice was adult again, he paused for her to comment on it.  Interrupting her interest, he continued.  “Mom.  We were attacked on the way home.”  Continuing quickly to keep her from panicking, Neal made short work of telling her what had happened while skipping some details to keep her from worrying.  “Dad is hurt, but he is going to be alright.  By the looks of it, he has a concussion, some bruising, and maybe a few fractured ribs.  He is going to be off duty for a while, but there is no permanent damage.”  Listening to her for a moment, he promised to let her know which hospital they were going to as soon as he knew.

Meanwhile, Noah was endeavoring to keep Peter conscious.  “Come on dad, you don’t get to sleep with a concussion.”  Thinking about it, he decided to give him a mystery to ponder in the hopes of that keeping him awake.  “Why do you think that was the moment we reaged to our usual selves?”

Thinking to himself, Peter repeated his earlier assumption.  ‘It was a heart’s wish.’  Then he passed out despite the twins’ best efforts to keep him conscious.

Settling Peter into a laid down position with Neal’s help, Noah sat himself beside him and rested his head on his lap.  “Mom is so not going to be happy with this… neither is Noel.”

Sighing, Neal stood protectively to the side where he could keep an eye on everything around them.  “Mom wasn’t thrilled, but she seemed to understand that everyone is either okay, or going to be so.  As for Noel… we should caution her that dad is hurt, but downplay how badly.  We don’t want to scare her, but she will need to be careful with dad too.”

“Why do you think we reaged when we did?”  Noah asked.  It wasn’t something they could answer, but it was a less depressing topic while they waited for the response teams to arrive.

Shrugging, Neal didn’t have a clue.  “Who knows?  Why were we deaged in the first place?  Maybe it was a heart’s wish like dad theorizes, or maybe some random cosmic collision that caused some kind of tear in the space time continuum… even if we got the right theory, how would we prove it to verify the conclusion?”  Although they all enjoyed hypothetical discussions, their content tended to differ between the various members of the family.

“I guess Chuck and I will have to discuss it now that I can contact him again… he enjoys these hypothetical discussions.”  Noah commented.

“He also enjoys discussing what to take to an island in a sandwich, so I’m not surprised he would discuss that with you.”  Neal teased.

“Hey, discussing sandwich content on a deserted island is an important topic… it can be the difference between life and death!”  Chuck playfully defended their favorite hypothetical discussion from college.

Although the twins were glad to see people starting to arrive, it was the ambulance that pulled up right behind Chuck that brought the most relief.

Moving aside with Neal, Chuck explained why he had been so close behind them.  “I was following you to make sure you got home safely because something didn’t feel right… but I got caught at a long light so I ended up further behind you than I intended.”

“Thanks, apparently that agent instinct of yours was right on.  We were attacked by three vehicles, hauled over here, and they were going to kill Noah and I first to make dad watch before killing him too… fortunately we reaged and were able to take them down.”  He explained the general summary.  “That one there is the leader so he is the main one that will need to be researched.  Hopefully he will lead us to some good information as to whom all we are dealing with on this one.” 

“Got it, I’ll make sure we get them processed and start doing some digging to see what I can find.”  Then he added on awkwardly.  “Will you let me know how you guys are doing?”

Patting Chuck on the shoulder, like Peter often did with the twins, Neal reassured Chuck that his interest was welcome.  “Sure, I just need your number.”  Then he added after Chuck had past him a card with his contact information on it.  “You know Chuck, you are my brother’s best friend which makes you like another member of the family.  Feel free to ask us anything or stop by anytime, I know that I will always have a place for you and your family.”

Feeling slightly awkward with this man that he had only met a few hours ago, Chuck still appreciated the offer.  “Thanks.  I owe Noah a lot, after everything that he has done for my family… if you ever need anything, look us up too.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”  Noah corrected as he moved to join them while Peter was being tended by the medics.  “I didn’t help you for you to go doing things for me in return, I helped because you needed it.”

“And we will help you and your family if you need it.”  Chuck stated.

Interceding to avoid an argument, Neal thanked Chuck.  “And we appreciate the offer.  If we need to, we will look you up… even if I have to contact you behind my brother’s back.  Our teams are going to be working together, and you two are friends, so you had better get used to him working with us Noah.”  He went big brother to make sure there wasn’t going to be any problems down the road.

Glaring and Neal, Noah gave into the situation as he was outnumbered.

“That’s right Noah, get used to it.”  Neal added before turning to the medics.  “He is our dad, one of us would like to ride with him to ensure that there aren’t any further attacks.”  When the medics were reluctant to have a passenger, he pulled his badge and told them that it wasn’t going to be a choice.

Coming around the corner, other members of the teams began to arrive so Neal gave them a quick summary as to what had happened before directing the Chuck and Noah. 

“Noah, ride with dad, you are going to be our back up just in case.  Chuck, where is your car?  We are going to be the tail to make sure they get to the hospital safely from any outside attack.”  Then he asked the medics which hospital they were going to so that he could text Elizabeth on the way.

*******

Arriving at the hospital safely, Chuck dropped Neal off with the promise to go back to the scene and help with the investigation.

Walking into the hospital, Neal found Noah sitting in the waiting room.  “How are you feeling?  Do you need to be checked out too?”  He asked as he took the seat next to him.

“Fine, it was just a shakeup and a punch.  How about you?”  He turned the questioned back on him.

“The same.  I guess being deaged and strapped in so securely helped during the accident, and we have both taken harder blows as far as that punch goes.”  He also shrugged off the effects of the attack.

Settling in, they waited the short period of time before Elizabeth arrived with Noel in her arms. 

Hurrying up to them, she asked for an update on Peter, but as there wasn’t anything new, she directed her concern to the twins.  “Are you two alright?”

“Yeah mom, the worst physical part was getting punched, but even that wasn’t too bad.  We’ve had far worse in the field.”  Noah answered.

“Don’t worry mom, we will probably have bruises from getting punched, but otherwise we don’t have a mark on us.”  Neal continued to sooth.

“Where is daddy?”  Noel asked in worry.

Taking her into his arms, Neal answered.  “Some bad men attacked us on the way home, but the team has taken them into custody so they won’t be coming after us again.  Still, dad was hurt a little, so he is with the doctor.  When he is done getting taken care of, he is going to come home for a while.”  He kept it simple for the little girl.

“Are you alright?”  She asked as she gingerly touched the slight coloring on his cheek where the bruise was starting to show.

“I have a bruise, and so does Noah, but that is all we have.  We’re okay Teddy.”  Neal hugged her reassuringly.

Settling in together, the family waited for the doctor to give them and update.

*******

Although it took a while, Peter was eventually released.

Hobbling from the wheel chair to the car, Peter was assisted by the twins and strapped carefully into the passenger seat.  Elizabeth took the back with Noah and Noel while Neal took the driver’s seat with a determined expression to get his family home safely.

The drive was silent.  Noel kept looking into the mirror to try and see between reassuring herself that Peter was alright, and looking worriedly at the serious expression that Neal was wearing.  When she turned to Noah, she saw his alert expression as his eyes kept darting around the traffic to ensure that there wasn’t going to be another attack, and Elizabeth focused on Noel to make sure she wasn’t worried or upset by everything that was going on.

Pulling into the driveway, Neal insisted on entering the house first to ensure there wasn’t anything waiting for them inside either.

With the all clear to enter, the family made their way inside.  Peter was soon settled on the couch where he would reside for a while, Elizabeth got dinner ordered for delivery as no one felt like cooking, and the others checked up on the case or settled in for a family movie night. 

Relaxing around the living room, Peter was settled in between Noel and Noah, Elizabeth sat on the other side of Noel, and Neal was in the chair between them and the door.  His protective side was still going, so he was going to make sure his family was safe.

Breathing as deeply as he could, Peter relaxed.  Although the case wasn’t solved, it would wait as he had his three children and his wife settled in around him safely for a family movie night.  After the scare he had had, he didn’t want anything else to ruin the moment.

Falling asleep early in the movie, Peter dreamt about the boys being little again, but this time, it was memories instead of missed opportunities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing/commenting, leaving kudos, following, and choosing to favorite :D


	5. Couch Cuddles

*******

Settling in at his office, Peter looked at the pile of paperwork on his desk and dreaded the digital in-box that was likely to be just as full as the physical one.  His injuries from the attack had only kept him out for several weeks, but as the leader of the division, that was more than enough time for his work to build up.

With a sigh, he started to slowly sift through as he started the work of catching up.  Desk duty meant he had a few more weeks, but he would still be hard pressed to get the work done.

Despite how much work he had to do, Peter found himself missing the previous weeks.  He was thrilled to have the pain easing up as his body was healing but, as much as he loved his job, he missed the feel of curling up on his couch with his family around him.

Thinking back to how he spent most of his recovery, Peter couldn’t help but smile.  Elizabeth had brought home various snacks from her caters to tempt him into eating no matter how bad he felt, and then she would curl up with him while they watched a movie or something together.  During the day, Noel would share her toys with him, he read to her, and she loved to curl up with him during her afternoon nap.  Then there were the twins.  They were so upset by the attack that they tag teamed to keep one at home for the family’s protection around the clock.  Having the twins alone with him meant that Peter had a lot of quality time to talk things through with them, and it was amazing to him how their relationship had changed.  It had only taken one day of experiencing what it might have been like if he had been around for them to make up for a great deal of that missed bonding.  After it, the twins were more open about their childhood than they had been before when they didn’t want to hurt him, and he was more open in talking about the things he wished he had gotten to experience with them when he had real memories to compare them to.

Focusing back on his work, Peter tried to make a decent dent into the piles before the day was done.

*******

While Peter was working to catch up on his pile of papers, the twins were busy working with the teams in the field.

A spy group had infiltrated the New York FBI office via some corrupt agents.  So far, it had been uncovered that they had tampered with the office’s flow of information by hacking the database and flagging anything that concerned the White Collar team.  It was believed they were either targeting Neal to provide some kind of artistic rendering in an Intersected format, to use Neal for a means of getting to Noah, or because they believed that Neal was Noah.  Whatever their intent, the spies and corrupt agents meant there were traitors at their backs, hence why Peter had been hurt just weeks before.

In response, Neal was working with the FBI to investigate and sort through who might be the mole in the office.  Based on how quickly the enemy knew they were onto them, who the leader of the investigation was, and where he was only a few hours after the investigation began meant the person was in the office somewhere, but the fact they knew nothing of the twins being his sons meant they weren’t close to the team either.  Although that narrowed down their suspects, they still had a lot to search through for an unknown number of opponents.

Taking on the spy angle, Noah used the cloak and dagger techniques for discovering who their opponents were.  His job was to work with team Carmichael throughout the larger scale investigation for the traitors.  They were digging through the entire world, so it was a rather daunting task to seek out opponents in their field as well.

*******

The situation changed again when Noah was sent on a lone wolf assignment.  It was believed that one man could penetrate his target easier than a team.

Unfortunately, his assignment was compromised, so he ended up under attack.  Fighting for his life, Noah barely got out and fled to the pickup location where his handler was waiting to take him home.  In the safety of the transport, he received the beginnings of medical attention for his injuries and gave his report.

*******

Going down for another cup of coffee, Peter noticed that Neal was out of the office and the rest of the team continued to be busy at their desks.  “Where is Neal?”  He asked Diana out of curiosity.

“He had a meeting with another agency, so he didn’t know when he would be back.”  She answered while getting her own cup.

“How long has he been gone?”  Peter had been secluded up in his office trying to catch up, so he let his sons take care of the operation.  It was more in their areas of expertise anyway.

“All morning.  We don’t know if he will even be done in time to come in today or not.”  She shrugged.  Neal had turned out to be an agent himself, so she wasn’t worried about him getting into any trouble.

Before Peter could ask her anything else, or bring up another topic of conversation, he noticed that one of his sons was entering the office badly injured, but still waking under his own power.  “Noah…”  He breathed in concern as he sat down his forgotten cup.  “What happened to you?”

Surprised at how easily his father knew, Noah questioned.  “Are you sure that I am Noah?”  In the past, Peter occasionally struggled to tell them apart.

“I know my kids.”  Peter continued to visually look Noah over to assess his injuries.  “You didn’t answer my question, what happened?”

Sighing, Noah knew Peter was going to be upset.  “Another one managed to intercept my assignment details… they were waiting for me with a trap.”

Exhaling sharply, Peter lost the air in his lungs as he was terrified by how the mission could have ended.

“My injuries aren’t as bad as they look, but I get to take over the couch for a while…  The director is sending me home for the time being and I know I might as well be ready for my turn at the couch treatment before someone makes me.”  He tried to lighten the mood with joking resignation to being mothered and cared for by his family.

Frowning at him, Peter didn’t see anything humorous about his son being placed in life threatening danger, again.  “It’s not funny, no matter how comparatively light your injuries are.  You still got hurt, and could have easily been killed!”

Keeping calm in the face of his father’s worry, Noah replied.  “But I wasn’t killed, I am fine enough, and I am going to be fine.”

After some more effort on Noah’s part to calm him down, Peter began to see his point.  Sighing, he gestured for Noah to take Neal’s seat.  “Why don’t you take a break and I’ll go collect some work to take home for a few days.  I’ll be back down in a few minutes to take you home.”  He gently put his hand on Noah’s shoulder before supporting him over to his brother’s seat.

Growing tired from the exertion of getting home and calming his father down, Noah didn’t complain about the assistance.  “I’ll call mom while you do that so I can reassure her.”  He pulled out his phone while getting situated as comfortable as possible.

“Have you notified Neal yet?”  Peter asked.

“Uhh… sort of.  He was with the director while I gave my report, but I haven’t seen him in person yet.”  Noah answered.

Seeing that he couldn’t do anything else for the moment, Peter went up to his office.  Collecting a stack of files, he was placing them into a box when Jones knocked on the door.

“Hey, I just thought I would help you haul those files to your car so you can help Noah.”  He offered.

“Thanks.”  Peter didn’t have a lot to say as he was more focused on ensuring he had the correct files to be able to complete as much work as possible while he was home.

“He is fine you know.  And with him having been attacked now, I get the feeling Neal is going to make sure they are taken down quickly.”  Jones tried to reassure him.

“That is what I am afraid of… Neal tends to get even more selfless when he feels that the family is in danger.”  Peter put another file in the box with his hands shaking.  “It’s only been a few weeks since I last watched them pinned down to the ground with a kill squad joking about all of the gruesome ways to kill them… and make me watch.  Now Noah is hurt, and Neal will feel like he needs to do something about it which will put him into even more danger.”  He stood still as he tried to regain his composure.

With the blinds already shut, Jones closed the door to give Peter privacy for his emotions.  “I don’t know anything about their government records, but if Neal is anything like you and his criminal character in the field, then he is one daunting foe to contend with.  And even if he does run into a challenge, he has us and his brother’s team here to back him up.  Neal is one of ours, and we will do everything we can to keep him safe, just like he does for us.  We are a team, and the other team has been melding with us into an extended group of friends.  Peter, we aren’t going to leave you or your sons to the enemy, and we will do everything we can to keep Neal safe in the field until you are able to resume you place watching his back.”

Finding his nerves again, Peter began to calm down under the reassurance that the team would take care of his son in the field while he watched over the other one from home.  “Thanks Jones, I need to be reminded of that once in a while.  Ever since learning about the twins, sometimes I get caught up more in being a father than in remembering that I am an agent when it comes to their safety.  Neal isn’t some con who is like my son anymore, he is my son, and I can’t send him into the field without that extra concern.”

“We know Peter, and we get it too.  Although most of us don’t have kids, or kids old enough to be in the field, none of us can imagine doing what you do every day.  To take your son into the field full knowing that he is going to be in danger with a confidence in his skill as an agent to protect himself, takes a strength most don’t possess.  Don’t feel bad when you struggle to maintain that Peter, the fact you can do it at all says something about you.”  He patted Peter on the shoulder in a friendly way to show his support.  “You have the full respect of your team.  Showing your humanity only strengthens that.”

Reaching up to give his friend’s hand a squeeze, Peter silently thanked him again for the support.  Squaring his shoulders again, he showed his strength as he finished gathering the files and talked about managing the office in his absence.  “I know you’ll take good care of the team and Neal for me, just don’t forget to take of yourself too.”  He added as he assented for Jones to pick up the box and begin carrying it down the stairs while he finished locking up his office.

Following, Peter noticed that Noah and Diana seemed to be finishing up a conversation of their own.  Guessing as to the content, he had a feeling it was much like the conversation he had just had with Jones.  Noah was probably asking Diana to keep an eye on Neal and to protect Peter when he returned to the field with the rest of the teams.  Based on the look in Diana’s eyes, that was a promise easily made.  With a quiet sigh, Peter knew he could rely on the team to keep both Neal and himself safe and it was heartening to think his son would also be watching out for him.

Reaching Noah’s side, he gently assisted him in standing up before supporting him towards the elevator.  Riding down with Jones standing quietly to the side, Peter asked Noah.  “So, what did you and Diana talk about?”

Evading a direct answer, but suspecting that Peter knew anyway, Noah answered.  “Oh, just the teams, case, and things about my absence for the next several weeks.”  He would have shrugged if it wouldn’t have hurt so much.

Smirking, Jones kept quiet, but he had heard the end of the conversation.

“Probably something along the lines of what Jones and I were discussing then.”  Peter acknowledged.  “I assume Diana wasn’t hard to convince to keep an eye on Neal and I, was she?”  He teased.

Knowing when he had been had, Noah smiled.  “No.  Jones probably wasn’t either?”

Answering for himself, Jones replied.  “He didn’t have to ask, and neither did you.”

“I know.  Chuck even texted me not to worry as soon as he learned about the attack, I didn’t even have to tell him anything.”  Noah added. 

“It’s a matter of verbalizing the known.”  Jones acknowledged before stepping out of the conversation again.

Keeping it general, the conversation still got more personal as Noah told Peter what Elizabeth had said about his attack.

“She isn’t happy about it, but she said she was expecting something to happen.  With all three of us in the field and traitors in our midst, it was inevitable that things would get rough.”  Noah frowned.  It shouldn’t be inevitable, but it unfortunately was.

“Your mother is a strong woman.”  Peter said as he reflected on all of the situations he had put her through over the years.

When the elevator reached the parking level, Peter walked them out and gently supported Noah as he led the way to his car.  Unlocking it as he went, he focused on settling Noah into the passenger seat while Jones placed the box in the back seat.  With Noah settling back to snooze for the drive home, Peter shook Jones’ hand before walking around to the driver’s side.

*******

Pulling up in front of his home, Peter turned to look at his son as he snoozed in the passenger seat.  Noah could pass his injuries off as being insignificant, which they might be in the long run, but it was the fact he was betrayed that really bothered Peter.  If Noah had been any less of an agent, he probably would have died in the trap and it would have been another agent responsible for it.

Reaching over, Peter put his hand on Noah’s head and left it there for a moment.  After enjoying the feeling off shifting his fingers through his son’s hair while he slept, he moved his hand down to Noah’s shoulder.

Deciding not to wake him up quite yet, Peter got out of the car and grabbed the box as quietly as he could.  Carrying it up to the house, he put it on the step to hold the screen door open while he unlocked the main door.  Leaving the doors open, he went back to the car to get Noah.

Reaching the passenger side of the car, he opened the door and crouched down in front of Noah.  Putting one hand on his chest to prop him up, Peter reached over him to unbuckle the seat belt.  As he slowly retracted it, Noah began to stir.

“Dad…”  He mumbled as he began to wake up.

“Yeah?”  Peter paused to focus on him.

“We there yet?”  Noah asked.

Chuckling lightly, Peter compared the question to what he imagined Noah would have been like traveling as a small child.  “Yes, we are home.  We’ll head in as soon as you’re ready.”

Waking up more, Noah preferred the comforts of sleeping at home, even on the couch, to sleeping in the car.

“Easy does it.”  Peter instructed as he gently helped him out of the car.  Wrapping his arm around his son’s waist, Peter provided the extra support Noah needed to make it up the stairs, into the house, and over to the couch.

While Peter was helping him to get comfortable, Elizabeth arrived home with Noel and Neal followed her through the door.

“I have your box of case files, dad.”  Neal said as he deposited them next to the recliner Peter would inhabit for the near future.  “How are you feeling Noah?”  He asked as he then turned his attention to his brother.

“Is Noah hurt?”  Noel asked as she approached.  Looking like she was going to cry, she paused as she looked up at her big brother.

Paying attention to Noel first, Noah wanted to relieve her fears.  “A little bit, baby sis.  The bad guys got the advantage, but I will be alright.”  Extending his arms, he lifted her up with a wince and settled her down on the couch beside him.  “It’s my turn to stay here with you for a while.”

Looking at the box of case files, the smart little girl asked.  “Is daddy going to be staying at home too?”

Ruffling her hair from behind the couch, Peter answered.  “Yes honey, I will be here to take care of you two.”

Getting a thoughtful expression, she scooted off of the couch and took off on some errand.

While she was gone, Noah focused back on Neal.  “Not too bad.  It hurts, but it’s nothing compared to things I have had before.”  He generalized so as to avoid upsetting their parents.

Nodding, Neal went to help Elizabeth get dinner ready while Peter arranged his case files into a working order.

Returning from her mission, Noel was carrying one of her most favorite stuffed animals.  Handing the little dog over to Noah, she passed him the same stuffed dog that had been given to her in representation of him, and that she had given to him to sleep with the night he had been deaged.  “Here, he will help you to feel better.”  She said as certainly as she had felt he would help him to sleep better before.

Helping her back up onto the couch, Noah hugged her.  “Thank you, baby sis.”

As the evening progressed, the family ate their dinner around the table before settling in around the couch to enjoy each other’s company for the remainder of the evening.

When it came time to go to bed, Neal carried Noel up and tucked her in while Elizabeth locked up and Peter settled in for his night’s vigilance.

“You can go up to bed you know dad.  Neal is also going to be hanging around at night to ensure we stay safe and at least one member of the teams is posted somewhere to keep an eye on us too.”  Noah tried to get Peter to get a proper night’s sleep.

“I know son.  Remember though, it is a father’s priority to watch over their children when they need him.”  He said as he ruffled Noah’s hair on his way past him for the chair.

Yawning as he settled in to sleep, Noah wished his father good night.  “Thanks dad, love you.”  His voice faded as he was drifting off.

“Anytime.  I love you too, son.”  Peter said, although he knew he was probably talking to himself.

Groaning in acknowledgement, Noah let him know he had heard before he fell asleep.

*******

In the office the next morning, Neal looked around at the White Collar team.  “Noah is settled in at home, and dad is keeping an eye on him while he works his way through his box of files.”  He summarized how the family was doing before going to work on the case. 

“Jones, has there been any progress for finding the mole within the office here?”  He was rapping out questions and orders like an experienced leader.

“It has taken a lot of work as we have reviewed and analyzed literally every employee file for the office, but we finally narrowed it down to three people.  Two have the computer skills to pull off such a hack, although we don’t have motive.  Then the third, there isn’t anything definable yet as to why they are a suspect, but there is something rather… off about their records, so we are going to do further digging.”

“Pass me the file.”  Neal ordered.

Handing it over as directed, Jones smiled knowingly.  Whoever was responsible was going to regret it.

Pointing out a few details, Neal gave them some pointers as to which areas they should pay extra attention too.  “Those are the likely areas that are being used to cover who they really are… we found at least one mole, because that is one fake file.”

Whistling, Jones marked the points he had flagged.  “How did you know the file was fake?  It passed the full FBI security and we only flagged it because of instinct.”

“I’m NSA and my brother is CIA, Jones.  We specialize in creating fake files for undercover work.  Combine that with how high our clearance is, and we have even been assigned to infiltrate governments.  How do you think I got passed the local FBI’s radar as Neal Caffrey?”  He shrugged with a slight smile.

“Ha-ha.”  Jones lightly glared at him.  Pausing, he decided to bring up another topic he had not talked to Neal about.  “Did you know we thought it was a joke when you and Peter started to announce that you were family?”

Smiling, Neal wasn’t surprised.  “No, but that isn’t surprising.  Who would expect dad to have a previous marriage he doesn’t talk about, yet alone a set of twins from that marriage that even he didn’t know about?”

“Or that you would both turn out to be agents… that you would get deaged to be five year olds for a weekend… need I say more?”  Jones smiled as he teased.

Getting a curious expression, Neal asked.  “How did you figure out that we are really family?”

Snorting, Diana answered for Jones and the rest of the team.  “I think we figured it out when Peter was dead serious as he shared extremely personal information to explain how you and your brother came about.”

Some of the others threw in their own comments, but the general consensus was that they knew it was true by the seriousness of how Peter and Hughes handled it and how nervous Neal was for that information to be known.

Waving them away, Neal smiled at their perspectives.  “Thanks, I needed a moment of humor.  Now, we need to get back to work in order to solve this case.”

Dividing out with smiles, the team went back to work and set about investigating their new prime suspect.

*******

After sending the rest of the family off to work, Peter settled in to begin his own work for the day.  Noel was curled up on the floor while she colored, Noah was taking a morning snooze on the couch, and Peter took advantage of the quiet to try and make some good headway.

When it came time to give Noah his next round of pain medication, Peter got the pills and a glass of water ready before he moved to wake Noah up.  Gently shaking his shoulder, he got him to open his eyes and look up at him blearily.  “Wake up, it’s time for your next round of medication.”

Shifting to be in a better position, Noah accepted the glass and pills.  Taking them, he placed the glass back on the table and got comfortable again.  “So, how did you know I am Noah yesterday?  Even up to a few weeks ago you tended to struggle with telling us apart from time to time, but lately you just seem to know.”

Smirking, Peter teased him without giving an answer.  “Call it a father’s intuition.”

Rolling his eyes, Noah wasn’t accepting that answer.  “And you didn’t have that for the last three plus years?”

“Nope.”  Peter laughed at the expression on Noah’s face in response to his obvious lie.  Getting more serious, he answered better.  “I noticed things about you and your brother when you were small.  Little differences really, but things that stand out more now that I have noticed them.”

Interested, Noah tried to get him to give those secret differences.  “Mom and Ellen would never tell us how they could tell us apart.  They were afraid we would use that knowledge for switching places on them.  What differences did you notice?”

Snorting, Peter teased.  “And you think I want to arm you for that?”  Then he noticed how Noah kind of sank back onto the couch in disappointment, so he relented.  He couldn’t stand to see that expression on his son’s face when he could do something about it.  “I will at least keep some back for my own sanity, and don’t go trying to get me to share those.”

Understanding that his father was giving in, Noah sat up a little again so he could pay attention to what was about to be shared.  “So, what differences are you going to tell me about?”

Looking at him thoughtfully, Peter tried to choose which ones with care.  “Well… for one, you tend to do your hair differently when you aren’t trying to look alike.  Neal tends to brush it back, but you tend to part it off to the side which gives one visual difference at a glance.  There is a difference to the way you two smile.  Neal tends to be more mischievous while you are more playful, even when you are trying to switch places.  Then there is that mole on the back of your neck up in the edge of your hair line.  It isn’t exactly the most noticeable, but when you’re back is to me, it’s one way to check which is which.”  Holding up his hand, he halted the reveal.  “That is all that you are getting from me, one way each to tell you apart from the front, back, and when you are trying to switch places.  Now it’s up to you and Neal to do with that as you will.”

Relieved to finally understand some of the tricks, Noah smiled.  “Thanks dad.  We knew about the hair and smiles, but the mole is a new one.  Still, it is interesting to see just how much you pay attention to us to be able to differentiate which one of us is which.”

Joining the conversation, Noel decided to add her thoughts.  “I can tell you apart too.  People say they don’t know which is which, and I just don’t understand why not.”

Almost more curious what her answer would be, Noah asked.  “So, how do you tell us apart?”

Wrinkling her face up thoughtfully, Noel put her finger on her lips.  Coming up with one, she blurted.  “You call me baby sis while Neal calls me Teddy.”

It was an obvious one, but still an interesting perspective.  Prodding her to continue, Noah was curious what else she used because she knew even if they hadn’t said a word.  “What else?”

Beginning to count on her fingers, she started to tally them off.  “You play with computers and Neal draws, you dress more comfy and Neal wears pretty suits…”  Pausing for a moment, she had to come up with more to her list.  Sometimes it was hard to explain why she knew, because she just knew.  “I think the biggest way is how you look at us though.  You tend to be more… happy to be with us, and Neal seems to look more… like he would do anything for us?”  She questioned herself.  There was something to their expression that told them apart, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

Astounded, Peter and Noah both stared at her.  For a three year old, she had hit one of the biggest differences rather well.  Noah was mostly just happy to have a loving family of his own around him, while Neal seemed to have a strong sense of protection that he would do anything for that family.

‘She hit the nail on the head with that one.’  Neal commented suddenly through their earpieces. 

Peter jumped as he had forgotten they were wearing them while Noah was just slightly startled.

 “I forgot you were listening in, but now I remember, I’m not going to be telling you any other secrets either so I still have some back up means as you figure the others out.  My sanity needs plenty of ways to tell you two apart.”  Peter informed him as well.

“But he did tell us some of his methods, so now we can work to eliminate some of them better when we want to switch.”  Noah joked playfully.  He knew it would be a while before they even thought about it, but that didn’t meant they couldn’t take notes for later.

‘Dad is probably looking like he is part amused, and part like he expected that, isn’t he?”  Neal asked.

Glancing over at their father, Noah described his expression for his brother who couldn’t see.  “Pretty much, there is that slight uplift to the side of his mouth like he is smiling, that hint of a glower to his eyes, and yet a relaxed expression like it was the expected reaction.”

Smiling at his son’s amusement, Peter turned his focus back to Noel.  “That was very smart of you to notice Noel.  You’re my smart little girl.”  He hugged her proudly and kissed the top of her head before she went back over to play.

*******

Following Neal’s instructions, it didn’t take the team long to eliminate two of the suspects for lack of motive while proving Neal’s theory of the third.

“It’s one fake file alright, so now we have a suspect, but what is their motive?”  Jones asked during their conference meeting.

“The other team has that actually, the black ops side has also made some headway on the investigation.  Chuck.”  Neal handed the lead off to the image on the screen.

Taking the description from there, Chuck filled them in on what he and his team had discovered.  “Tracking the very limited number of people who had any access to the information about Noah’s mission, we were able to narrow our suspect list down to one as well.”  Projecting his image up on the screen, Chuck continued.  “He hasn’t come up as a suspect for anything before, which is how he got past our radars up until now, but this agent appears to be rather connected.”  Changing the picture, he showed a tree of people with lines to interconnect who was connected to whom.  “Although they have only recently begun to move into criminal endeavors, these agents have had a bit of a… alternate agenda for their operations for a while now.  The agencies have been keeping an eye on them and have tracked their movements just in case they ever became a problem, as they have now, so we already have most of our information about them collected.”  Taking the picture down for the moment, he continued on to describe their motive.  “Based on the intel, we believe they are trying to use Neal to get to Noah, but we don’t know why they want Noah entirely.  He has been a part of several task force operations that they don’t like, and he has also been one of the agents sent to prevent them from accomplishing anything beyond what they are ordered… particularly where the Intersect is concerned.”

Raising her hand, Diana asked.  “But why try to go through Neal to get to Noah, why not try to get Noah directly?”  It was an obvious question.

Clearing his throat, Chuck looked apologetically at Neal.  “I have hacked several of their information streams and cracked their code… they think Neal is the ‘weaker’ of the two and less defended because he is in White Collar instead of black ops like his brother.”  Shrugging, he looked like he didn’t understand the opinion himself.  “If they had simply checked his files they would see that Neal is the more protective and therefore dangerous of the two, but maybe they didn’t think to check that way.”

Looking like a storm was brewing inside of him, Neal glared at the table in front of him.  “You said they don’t like him for his actions, and that he has curbed their plans from taking shape, so it is likely they are out to kill him… which also explains why he barely got out of that last scrape alive.”  Mentally stepping back, he went into planning mode and was quiet for a few moments.

Meanwhile, both teams watching him almost felt pity for the fools or morons that were stupid enough to cross him… almost.

“Here is what we are going to do…”  Neal leaned forwards with a fire in his eyes.  He knew who, why, and what, so it wasn’t so hard to come up with a means for how to stop them.

*******

Enjoying an afternoon, the situation hadn’t changed much on the home front.

Peter was still working to accomplish his case files, as he would be the entirety of his stay at home, and the other two had reached a point of playing together.

Noah was still hurting from his injuries, despite the days spent at home on the couch, but he was feeling better and more inclined to play a little.  Although he helped Peter with his case files from time to time, Noah wasn’t able to be the most helpful as he was a black ops agent looking at white collar crimes.  Sure he was familiar with a few things, but not enough to assist overly much.  So, instead he focused on entertaining Noel so she wouldn’t disturb Peter when his mind was on a trail.

Noel thoroughly enjoyed having the attention and play time with her brother. 

Closing the book he had just finished reading to her, Noah yawned.  It was getting toward being time for their afternoon nap, so he tried to encourage Noel to find something more relaxing to do.  “What do you want to do now baby sis?”

Looking around the room, Noel spotted several toys they had been playing with, her favorite books she had directed him to read to her, and her favorite friends for sleeping.  She didn’t seem to feel like playing some more as they had been doing that all morning, they had just finished a book, and it was afternoon… suddenly she knew exactly what she wanted to do. 

Scooting off of the couch, she went about collecting her sleep friends.  “Here, he wants to sleep with you.”  She passed her favorite stuffed dog to Noah again.

Focusing on the cushion beside him, she arranged her other stuffed animals and blanket.  Moving back towards the coffee table, she passed Noah the remote, grabbed her drink, and then moved to climb up beside him.

“There, now we can watch cartoons.”  She smiled happily as she further arranged her things just the way she liked them.  Curled up into her brother’s side she yawned slightly, but valiantly tried to fight it off.

Seeing that she was going to fall asleep, Noah agreed to the cartoons while she drifted off.  It wasn’t something she was typically allowed to do, but his surviving the attack made for a special occasion as that kept her from worrying about him.

Getting more comfortable himself, he tucked the dog in to one side of him and wrapped his arm around his little sister on the other side.  “Okay, which cartoons do you want to watch?”

Choosing her favorite ones, Noel fought off another yawn.

Since that wasn’t on, Noah pulled up an old recording she had seen thousands of times.  It was her most favorite episode and saved for her to watch between showings.

With the two of them comfortably curled up together on the couch, Noah let the colors play before his eyes without really paying attention.  Watching the episode once was more than enough for him, but he dealt with it for Noel.  Beside him, he could feel her getting heavier and heavier as she drifted off to sleep.  Even she wasn’t interested enough to keep awake.

Feeling his eyes growing heavier, Noah faintly felt the remote being taken from his hand, heard the television get turned off, and felt his father making sure they were both comfortably tucked in.  When Peter put his hand on Noah’s head for a moment, he breathed a little deeper in contentment.

Gently running his hand acrossed his head for a moment longer, Peter felt the moment when Noah breathed deeper in contentment, and then went limp in slumber.  Smiling to himself, Peter loved that he was finally able to provide a safe haven for his boys.

When Noah eventually woke up, it was to the smell of food as Elizabeth had come bearing snacks.  There was also the sound of Noel’s curiosity as to what it was.

“Shh Noel.  You brother is still trying to sleep.”  Elizabeth attempted to quiet the little girl.

“I was before you brought that smell in.  Now you have my stomach rumbling.”  Noah smiled as he stretched gently.  It felt good, but he didn’t want to go too far or it would hurt.

Smiling, Elizabeth began to clear the coffee table with Noel’s help.  “Here, let’s get your toys put away so we have some space.  Neal says they have made good progress on the case today, so we are going to celebrate this evening with snacks and a movie.”

Excited at the prospect, Noel was eager to help clear her toys away and hurried to put them in the toy box allotted to them.

With the space cleared, Elizabeth kept the snacks covered and focused on Noah.  “Do you need another pill?  It is nearly time for your next dose.”

Trying to put it off, Noah shrugged, but winced slightly in the effort.  “No, I’ll be fine for a while longer.”

“Noah.”  Elizabeth went mother on him.  “I saw that wince, so you are taking your pill and no complaints.  Don’t make me hide it in your food like I do for Satchmo.”  She added with a teasing smile.

Huffing slightly, Noah pretended to take offense.  “Now you are going to feed me like the dog?”

Returning with his pill, she opened up another snack she had brought home especially for him.  Placing the pill on top of one, she passed it to him with a glass of water.  “Here, now be a good boy and eat it.”  She ruffled his hair like she was petting him playfully.

Watching the scene, Noel laughed and moved to ‘pet’ Noah’s knee.

Helping her out, Peter lifted her up in one arm and they both petted Noah’s head together. 

“There, now who is a good boy.”  Peter crooned.

“Good doggie.”  Noel giggled.

‘I think I will have a treat you will like when I get home too.’  Neal joined in on the fun from a distance.  ‘We have a plan and will be finishing the case shortly.’

“Just don’t start petting me on the head too.”  Noah sighed in response. 

Shifting Noel so she had to stop the petting, Peter kept his hand on Noah’s head in a more comforting gesture.  Then he moved it down to his shoulder and squeezed gently, like a hug with his hand.

While Noah took his pill, the family got settled in for the evening and Neal drove home for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D


	6. One Big Family

*******

Finally reaching a point where they could wrap up the case, Neal was working at the office to arrange for the final details.  Mozzie had been brought in to help and the teams were making their final adjustments.

“Do you mean to tell me, that I have been working with a spook all along?!”  Mozzie blew up slightly in the middle of the FBI office.  He had just learned that not only was Noah an agent, but so was Neal.

“Yes, Moz.  My step-dad’s partner raised me with a healthy respect of law enforcement and the belief that my father had died as some heroic cop, she didn’t know about my biological father.  Then when I turned eighteen, I learned that my ‘father’ was a dirty cop, so I went to college.  I couldn’t go into crime, otherwise I would be like him, and I couldn’t go into the academy, otherwise I would be humiliated for my supposed heritage.  Finally, when I was in my junior year of college, I drew the attention of a local recruiter and ended up in the NSA instead.  During my background check, Peter was discovered and I found myself more excited to be in law enforcement again… because my real father is.  Now I play a con to protect my family, but I can’t explain how because it is a rather classified situation… even dad doesn’t know the details.” Neal tried to ease the situation by explaining how his being an agent had come about.

Still not completely mollified, Mozzie had more questions to ask.  “Why me?  What role do I really play in all of this?”

Knowing he had to be completely honest, no matter how much Mozzie might not like it, Neal told him.  “You’re the shadow man, the mentor, and friend that made much of this possible.  Knowing what you do now, do you think I could have convinced everyone I was the real deal as a criminal on my own?  Based on the skills I had when we meant, do you think I could hack it as a big time con man?  Do you think I like lying to you?  If my family’s very lives weren’t at stake, it would have been a lot harder to keep this secret from you.  The only reason I am telling you now at that risk, is because they are also at risk if I don’t.”

Standing there in fuming contemplation, Mozzie though through what he had said.  “I’m still not happy about this.”  He wanted it to be known that he didn’t like being lied to.  Then he sighed.  “But I understand your side of it.  I have never had a family of my own, but I would lie to you if it was to protect the surrogate parent in my past.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Neal felt better.  “Thanks, Moz.”

Pointing a finger at him, Mozzie reminded him that he had only come to terms with his lying to him.  “That doesn’t touch the whole being a secret agent or what my role in it is.  Am I like a CI or something?  Have you been profiling me in your government database so that some clone can hunt me down later when I am no longer needed?  What if I no longer want to be party to this government conspiracy now that I am aware of it?”  He threw out his most worry some questions.

Continuing to answer honestly, Neal tackled each one by one.  “You are technically termed as being an asset.  Yes, you are in the system.  Being born in an American hospital, you have a file as to who your parents are, what your social security number is, and other such basic details of a government record for children born as US citizens.  Remember, your parents didn’t abandon you the day you were born, so they kept the required records up until that time.  My bosses found it rather easy to track down when you stopped showing up on one record, and when you started showing up on another.  By the way, you are right in assuming what your real name is.  As for them hunting you down, that is a tougher one.  Agents like myself who appear to turn traitor are fair game, but assets with no real government secrets aren’t a concern… unless you were ever to walk into something on your own, which is always possible considering your love of conspiracies and the government’s tendency to like to keep them secret.  If you no longer wish to work with me, then you are free to go under the provision that you keep what you know about me to yourself.  My family is still in danger and my assignment isn’t complete.”

Stepping back, Mozzie looked betrayed.  “You did a search into who I am, linked everything up, and have placed me in the system?”

Correcting him, Neal answered.  “No, I simply filed that I had an asset under the alias you were using at the time.  After that, I did as much research as I could into what the system already had on you to determine that you wouldn’t be putting a bullet in my back.  Then when you passed my tests, I continued to work with you.  Everything that is in the system, is gathered via the government’s usual means… even you should know that your face is caught on camera several times a day so all of your biometrics are in the system, even if you remain ‘off grid.’”

Looking calmer that Neal hadn’t filed him, Mozzie still looked upset to discover the government already knew so much about him.

Patiently waiting, Neal didn’t push him.

“Alright, I will help you with this for your family, but then I want to see my file and some time to think this all through.”  Mozzie laid out his demands.

“Agreed.”  Neal extended his hand to shake.  “I have already compiled your file and you can take as much time as you need.”  He said as he passed it over.

Eager to check it out, Mozzie did a preliminary scan before setting it aside.  “I have perfect recall, so I can still get the general information if my file is messed with.”

Not taking it personally, Neal understood.  “If anyone messes with that, then they will have to answer to me.”

Feeling more comfortable with the immediate situation, Mozzie moved on to the plan.  “So, how are we going to catch these guys?”

Getting onto task, Neal began to relay his plans.  “We are going to place me out for bait.”

The entire room gasped and then began to explain why that was such a bad idea. 

“No wonder you didn’t tell us exactly how you were going to draw them out.”  Jones stood in his military stance.  It denoted that he wasn’t happy with the situation and he was trying to come off as authoritative.

“Do you think I’m so stupid as to tell my family that?  They would have my head.  You guys aren’t much better, except you don’t have the blood leverage to hold over me.”  Sighing at their angry expressions, he continued.  “I know you promised to keep an eye on me and to make sure I remain safe, which is why I know this will work.  There isn’t another group of agents I would trust to help me pull this off, or that I could rely on more to ensure this works.  None of you will be putting a bullet through my back and you will all do your best to make sure the traitors don’t either.  However, being that my brother and I are the targets, we are the best people to draw them out.  With Noah being at home off duty, that leaves me.”

Still not liking it, but seeing his point, Diana stepped forwards.  “Alright, then remind us how this is supposed to be pulled off.”

Leading the way up to the conference room, Neal got to the board where he could draw out his plan.  Visual was always his best way of explaining things.

“We are going to pretend to do a sting here.”  He circled the abandoned location on the map.  “It appears to be open, defenseless, and remote which makes it more difficult to defend and to seek shelter.  They think I am the weaker and undefended brother of the two, so we are going to appear that way.”  His eyes blazed.  “Mozzie will be over here with the team at his back.  That way he has an avenue of escape and the team has cover to protect me from.”  There was an X placed on a second map that was smaller and more detailed for the area.  “Casey will be our lookout and sniper from here, Sarah will have this avenue covered, Morgan will be in the base covering surveillance, and Chuck will be over here as my primary back up with his usual secret weapon.  Is that clear?”

“How are you going to defend yourself from an attack?  You just said it is a harder place to defend?”  Jones pushed in concern.  He was clearly picturing just how nervous Peter was to leave and didn’t want to let him down.

“By wearing lightweight body armor that isn’t in their field of knowledge, being a more capable fighter than they expect, and having the best teams at my back.”  Neal summarized.

Feeling marginally more comfortable, the team still didn’t want to risk his life.

“It has already been approved by the agency directors.  I know you don’t like it, but it’s happening.”  Neal sighed again.  “Every possible precaution is being taken… even the general will personally be our eyes in the sky.  There is no way I am going to throw myself out there at the risk of getting killed needlessly… I’m sure several of you would revive me just to kill me yourself for being so stupid, yet alone what my family would do to me.”

Despite their dislike of the situation, the team was out voted by shear rank.

Moving to the site, they went to work arranging for their fake sting.  Once everything looked like it was in order, Neal moved to the middle and began playing his role with Mozzie.

Going over the action again and again, Neal began to wonder if their plan was going to work, or if the traitors had somehow caught wind that it was a trap.  Then the situation got interesting rather quick.

Feeling a bullet whiz past him as it winged his arm, Neal was really glad he had the armor and had moved when he had.  Otherwise, the bullet would have killed him on impact.

Running for cover as he was supposed to, Mozzie ducked back in with the team and hunkered down in safety.

Laying low, Neal pretended to be more hurt than he was.  Looking around, he couldn’t get a location as to where the shot had come from, because there weren’t any vantage points in that direction.  While he was still trying to figure it out, his phone went off in his pocket. 

Answering without checking the caller ID, he figured it was the attackers making contact after a failed kill shot.  “Hello?  You missed me.”

“What do you mean I missed you?  Neal, are you on an assignment?”  Elizabeth asked in worry.

“Mom?”  Neal said as he rolled out of the way of another shot.

“Was that gunfire I just heard?”  Elizabeth gasped.

“I’m kind of busy right now, so it’s not a really good time to be having this conversation.”  Neal said, although he wasn’t really paying attention to whatever it was she said.

Seeing a group of men choosing to attack on foot, he threw out some words over her orders to be careful.  “They have given up taking snipe shots at me, but now they are attacking on foot.  I have to go, mom.”  He hung up without giving her a chance to say anything else.

As Chuck ran out from the side, Neal prepared to take on their opponents.

Reaching him, Chuck said.  “Noah is so going to kill you when he reads the reports… your dad might even help him out!”

“Oh, they aren’t the ones I am most afraid of… mom is worse, and she just called me because I didn’t tell her I had this going down today.”

Staring at him wide eyed for a moment, Chuck agreed.  “Yep, your step-mom is going to take you out first, and I haven’t even met her yet.”

Meeting the first agent in combat, Neal only had time for one parting comment.  “I’ll introduce you when we finish this.”

“I’ll hold you too that.”  Chuck answered as he also began fighting.

Combining their skills and the teams rushing in with weapons drawn, the perpetrators were quickly taken down.

“See, they thought they could out fight us in combat and that they would be able to shoot their way out as you wouldn’t be enough of a match for them.”  Neal said as he stood back with Chuck.  “You aren’t the only one who managed to intercept their communications.”

“You were listening to them come the whole time?”  Chuck asked in surprise.  Then he got upset.  “That was something you should have shared with the whole team, Neal!”

“And how would you have reacted if I had?”  Neal asked.

“Like you were an idiot, but also I would have worried a little less knowing you were at least aware of what they were doing and reacting accordingly.”

“Well, the directors wouldn’t allow that as they wanted one extra barrier for my protection.”  Neal explained.  “I was just curious what your reaction would have been earlier.”

Pushing him lightly, Chuck smirked.  “You sound just like your brother.  He is always testing my reactions to things.”

Laughing, Neal was glad to hear it.  “Good.”

“That you sound like your brother, or that he tests my reactions?”  Chuck asked with a smile.  He loved that he not only had his friend back, but that he was being privileged with getting to know his family.

“Both, I guess.”  Neal said as he started to move Chuck forwards to where they could help with the arrests.

“Wait.”  Chuck pulled Neal back.  “You’re bleeding!”

“What?”  Neal followed where Chuck was looking.  “Huh, so that shot grazed me too.  I knew it was close, but at least it was only a flesh wound.”

“Come on, we’ll get that treated while they finish the arrests.  The teams need to feel like they are doing something, so you might as well let them take the bad guys down.”  Chuck drug him forcefully off of to the side area where he had been assigned.  That was where he had left his first aid kit.  “You also tend to get yourself shot like your brother too.”

“Just don’t tell my family.”  Neal tried to get him to promise.

“I promise, I will just be there to watch them figure it out.”  Chuck turned back with a grin.

“You know what, I think I just decided you are not as cool as I thought you would be.”  Neal pretended to complain.

“Come on, you know you like me.  I’m your brother’s best friend.”  Chuck laughed at him.

“Now I hate you.”  Neal said with a sullen expression as he took off his protective gear.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”  Chuck muttered as he started to tend his injury.

“You are just going to ignore that aren’t you?”  Neal asked.

“Pretty much.”  Chuck muttered while he continued to stitch his wound.

Shaking his head, Neal settled back and allowed Chuck to sew it closed.

*******

Once the attackers had been arrested, the teams piled back into their vehicles and returned to the office.

“What do you think you were doing out there, Neal?  Those guys would have killed you with that shot if you hadn’t of moved!”  Diana planted her hands on her hips and stood forcefully in front of Neal’s path.

Sighing, Neal knew he might as well get the explanations over with at the same time… for the office anyway.  “Is everybody here?”  When he had conformation that they were all present, he explained.  “As Chuck already knows, the directors knew I also had an earpiece in that was on the same signal as the attackers.  I knew roughly where they were, what they were saying, and generally what they were doing the whole time.  Like I promised, there was no way I was simply going to throw myself out in the open to commit suicide by traitors.”

Feeling better, the room began to settle down more.  He hadn’t in fact been recklessly risking his life; he had just made it look that way to ensure the enemy took advantage of it.

Pointing her finger at him, Diana wasn’t quite finished with him.  “Don’t you ever do anything like that to us again, or I don’t think your father and brother will be enough to keep me from hurting you!”  She threatened.

Holding up his hands in surrender, Neal didn’t antagonize her.  “I promise to do everything in my power to avoid such situations again, and if I am able, to always forewarn you when things look riskier than they are.”

Huffing, Diana eased up.  She understood he was protecting his family and had taken every available precaution, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

As the team began to move away towards their desk and impending reports, Neal turned his focus on Mozzie.

“You have your file as promised and my contact information should you ever want to be in touch again.”  Then he extended his hand.  “Thank you for your help Mozzie, my family is safer for it and I’m indebted to you for the last several years as well.”

Although it wasn’t his favorite way of handling things, Mozzie allowed enough contact for a quick hand shake.  “You’re welcome.”  He wanted to say something more poignant for the moment, but there was so much that he chose to scurry out of the room instead. 

Sighing, Neal knew he might never see his friend again, but he also knew he could never hold him back with lies either. 

Turning towards his desk, he nodded in response to the looks he was receiving from around the room.  Some were respectful that he had handled the situation so well, while others felt pity for him losing his friend.  Mozzie might come back, but there was no guarantee or knowledge as to when that would happen.

Settling in for the rest of the afternoon, the teams made quick work of the reports and were making good progress towards closing the case.

*******

When the evening came around, Neal was putting his final touches on the last report for the day when he noticed a shadow cast over his desk. 

“I know, Chuck.  Let me finish these last few points and I am calling it a day.”  He said without looking up.

Startled, Chuck hadn’t expected to be recognized so easily by someone he had only known for some weeks.  “How did you know it was me?”

“Your cologne is different from the rest of the office, you walk quieter like a spy, your curly hair could be seen in the shadow, and I promised to introduce you to my mom and sister.  Besides, you’re going protective over me because my brother died right in front of you the last time you tried to help him and you’re still trying to make that up now that you know he ultimately survived.  Need I say more?”  He could have continued, but he didn’t really want to.

Looking up when there wasn’t an immediate response, he could see that Chuck was analyzing his reasoning, particularly the last part.

“So, you think I am being protective of you to compensate for failing your brother?”  He asked after a few moments.

“’Failing,’ in one word you proved me correct.  Did you not succeed in your effort to protect him?  Let me set you straight on that.  It was the government’s job to screen his protection team for traitors, his protection team’s job to keep him safe and alive to complete his mission, and your job to protect the target after you dropped in with him.  The government failed to keep a traitor out, the team was killed by said traitors and allowed him to be shot through the back, and you kept the target safe by taking his place… you and your team were the only ones who completed their task successfully.  You did not fail my brother, because you took the baton he passed you and saved thousands of lives when he could no longer protect them!”

Surprised again, Chuck hadn’t expected to be defended so adamantly.  “It was also my job to provide whatever assistance I could once I was alerted to his situation.  After everything he has done for my family, I couldn’t even save his life once.”  Chuck still looked ashamed.

“And you provided all the assistance you could by ensuring the team going after him, going along as an unarmed civilian to help, being the person to drop in with him while no one else could get to him, talking to him while he slipped away, and taking the baton he couldn’t carry any longer before bringing his attackers to justice… what else could you have done under the circumstances?  Nothing, so you completed your mission in full with successful results.  Stop beating yourself up over it.”  Neal continued to drill the words into Chuck’s head.

Feeling a weight lift off of his shoulders, Chuck was relieved that Neal didn’t hold it against him, but he still wondered about Bryce.

“By the way, that was my brother’s argument.  He thoroughly defended your efforts when I was upset that he had been killed again.  I have never held any blame towards you, his argument is right that you did the best you could and completed you mission, but I still wasn’t happy with the situation.  Would you be happy with any situation that killed your sister?”

Understanding the situation better, Chuck felt the rest of the weight ease up.  There was still a residual place where he remembered it clearly, but he wasn’t tormented by that anymore.

Having completed his work while Chuck absorbed his words, Neal put it away and began to lock up his station. 

Swinging on his jacket, he gently put his hand over the wound and winced from where it had hurt from the motion.  Adjusting as the pain eased, he gestured for Chuck to lead the way.  “I believe I promised to introduce you to the rest of my family.”

Jingling the car keys, Sarah caught up to them.  “I’m driving.”

Laughing, the other two followed her out the door.

*******

Pulling up in front of the home, Chuck and Sarah took a moment to observe the neighborhood.

“It’s nice.  I’m glad that you and Noah have such a normal family and home to return to when you need them.”  Sarah commented.  She felt like it was the twin’s chance to find the sense of belonging that she had discovered with Chuck and his family.

“Back in college, Noah seemed to have some family issues of his own, so I’m glad to see that things worked out for him too.”  Chuck seemed to be talking to himself.  His eyes were riveted on the normal looking house like he could see what was going on inside.

“Thanks, we know we are lucky to have mom, dad, and little Noel in our lives.  This is the life we dreamed about growing up.”  Neal acknowledged briefly before climbing out of the car.

Following suit, the others exited the vehicle as well and began to cross the street behind him. 

Walking up the steps, Neal led the way to the door and was reaching for the door knob when it opened to reveal an angry Elizabeth. 

“What do you think you were doing letting them shoot at you?  Besides that, you didn’t tell us you were going to be on a sting.  Otherwise, I never would have called you right in the middle of it!”  She was obviously furious.

Standing behind him, Chuck was flashing back to various telling offs that he had gotten from Ellie… Elizabeth looked like the twins, but reminded him of his older sister.  Looking over at Sarah, they exchanged glances before focusing back on the situation in front of them.

“I thought you had promised not to take any risks and that you were going to be careful!”  Elizabeth was still going protective mother on him.

“Let’s take this inside mom, and I promise to explain everything.”  He gently herded her inside with a glance back over his shoulder at the other two.  “This will be a repeat for you, but come on in.”

Pausing in her anger and concern, Elizabeth took a moment to make her guests feel more welcome and less like they were entering a war zone.  “I’m sorry, but with everything that has been going on lately, I have been worrying about him all day.”  She apologized before taking a deep breath to calm down.

“Mom, meet Chuck and Sarah.  Chuck and Sarah meet our mom.”  He introduced them to each other.

Seeing that Neal was alright, Elizabeth was calming down more.  “Thank you for being there for Noah before we knew about him.  He talks very highly of you.”  She said as she hugged them.

Returning the hug, Chuck smiled.  “He was a far better friend than I was.  I’m glad to learn he has his own family now.”

“We all are.  Noah was kind of the lone wolf before we learned that he had you.”  Sarah said as she also retuned the hug.

Leaving those comments for Noah to deal with, Neal focused on the shy little face peaking from around Noah’s side.  “Come here Teddy, we have some friends for you to meet.”

Seeing that she was a little reluctant, Noah started to get up despite a wince or two.  “Come on baby sis, these are some of my closest friends.  How about I introduce you to them?”

Nervously agreeing, Noel took her brother’s hand and walked acrossed the room with him.

“Noel, meet my best friend Chuck, and his wife Sarah who is also an old friend.  Guys, meet my baby sister, Noel.”  Noah gently pulled her to stand in front of him with his hands on her shoulders.

Crouching down to her level, Chuck smiled cheerily.  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you Noel.  I have heard a lot about you over the last few weeks.” 

Kneeling down beside her husband, Sarah was smiling gently as well.  “Hello, Noel.”

Waiving shyly, Noel smiled and them and quietly greeted them in return.

Then Chuck got a playful expression as he pulled a small package out of his pocket.  “Your brothers didn’t know it, but we bought you something.”

Looking up at her brother for permission, Noel stepped forwards excitedly after getting the nod of approval.  “What is it?”  She asked, forgetting to be shy in her curiosity.

“Why don’t you open it and see?”  Sarah gently suggested while Chuck handed it to the little girl.

Carefully pulling the paper off, Noel looked at the back it curiously.

“Turn it over.”  Chuck encouraged.

Gasping, the little girl was surprised to see a fake badge that looked an awful lot like the ones the agents in her family carried.  Excited, she started talking about how she was going to be such a good agent and how she could now go to work with her daddy.

Coming over to investigate, Peter glanced at the badge and noticed it wasn’t anything he had ever seen before.  “Where did you get that?”

Shrugging, Chuck answered.  “We found it in a toy store while we were looking for gifts for the girls.  Clara and Molly love it when we bring little gifts back from our missions.”

Looking at them questioningly, Noah asks.  “Who?”

“Ellie’s daughter is Clara.”  Chuck answered for his side of the family while Sarah answered for hers.  “Molly is my adopted sister.”

Nodding, Noah didn’t push for any further answers as Sarah’s body language said it wasn’t going to be discussed.

Moving away from the door and further into the home, the group divided out. 

Noel had decided that these strangers weren’t so bad, so taking Chuck by the hand, she insisted on leading him and Sara around on a tour.

While Noel was otherwise occupied, Neal took the chance to explain what had gone down in the sting earlier that day.  “We drew them out by pretending I was relatively unprotected and occupied by a White Collar operation.  Then when they attacked, they started by taking snipe shots at me and moved to a physical attack by a kill squad when that didn’t work.”  Seeing their concern, he went into more detail to describe how he had protected himself.  “The agencies pulled every string to make sure I was safer than I looked.  I had an ear piece monitoring their activity, the teams placed strategically around, body armor, and even the general personally got involved to be the eye in the sky.  It went perfectly fine.”

Thinking that no one had been injured, Peter moved to hug Neal only to hit his arm in the process.  Hearing the hiss, he drew back and glared at him.  “How were you hurt?”  He demanded to know.

Sighing that the jig was up, Neal rolled up his sleeve to show a wrap of white bandaging.  “A bullet grazed my arm.  Chuck insisted on bandaging it, but I’m not even being placed on desk duty.  I’m perfectly fine.”

Feeling upset that his son had hid his injuries, Peter wasn’t going to push it though because it was just a gash and nothing serious.  Moving to hug him again, this time Peter succeeded as he was cautious of the wound.

After a few more moments of family conversation, Noel returned with Chuck and Sarah.

“Shall we eat?”  Elizabeth redirected the attention to the food that had been sending delicious smells throughout the house.

Agreeing, the group all moved over towards the table and began to eat.  Talking, they made the conversation a means of getting to know each other.

*******

Later, once they had finished eating and were sitting around the coffee table, the twins were on the couch with Noel tucked in between them while the others were arranged around them on various chairs.

“So, tell me what it is like to be a private contractor?”  Peter was curious.

“Well…”  Chuck and Sarah took turns to explain what they did and how they kept their lives separated from the public perspective.

While the conversation was going on, the group noticed that the occupants of the couch were paying less and less attention, until they weren’t even participating in the conversation anymore.

Looking over to see why Noah had gone quiet, Chuck smiled.  “It looks like all three have fallen asleep.”  He said quietly so as to not disturb them.

“I have never seen Noah with his guard down like that.  Even when we were dating, he was always alert to the slightest sound.”  Sarah mused.  “It is a testament as to how safe he feels here with you.”

Proud to hear her words, and yet saddened by the need for them to be said, Peter voiced his thoughts.  “The twins had it pretty rough growing up with their mom.  If I had known they exist, I would love to have been there for them sooner.  Still, I am glad we can offer this haven for them now.”  He took Elizabeth’s hand as he said the last part.

Falling quiet for a moment, they simply watched the two hardened agents sleep peacefully with their little sister cuddled in between them.  Each of them was lost in their own reflection.

Realizing how late it had become, Chuck made the first motion that it was time for them to be leaving.  “It’s getting late, so we should be going.  Thank you so much for welcoming us into your home, it’s been great getting to know you.”  He said as he gently stood up to avoid waking up the three sleepers.

“Thank you, this has been a very pleasant evening.”  Sarah agreed.

Speaking quietly, the group moved towards the door as Peter and El responded.

“It’s been our pleasure.  We have loved getting to know you too.  You’re the only people Noah talks about as friends, so it is interesting to get to know another aspect of his life and the people in it.  I hope you will come by again when you are in the city.”  Elizabeth extended the invitation for getting together again which sparked an exchange of contact information.

Holding the business card, Peter extended his own wish to see them again.  “And I hope you don’t just come around for work related reasons either.  You are our son’s friends, and now friends of ours as well, so you are welcome anytime.”

Exchanging hugs again, the group bid each other good night before Chuck and Sarah left down the walk.

Closing the door behind their guests, Peter and Elizabeth walked back into the living room before standing there and watching their children sleep.  Hugging each other close, they relished in the knowledge that the threat was removed at their family was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D
> 
> Next week I will post "Transforming Perceptions" as a Chuck, White Collar, and Transformers crossover. It's a one shot and written as a little bit of extra fun inspired one time when my brother was watching Transformers and Sam was annoying me ;) After than, what comes next is up to you. My fanfiction.net profile page (link in this profile page) has a list of completed works ready for posting and you can cast your vote through a comment. The only one not eligible for your selection is the Quinis Special which is reserved for a particular date as noted in it's description. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this story and selections for our next adventure :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, reviewing, following/bookmarking, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D
> 
> Like Quinis said in her post, we talk and share ideas for our stories and joint projects. This was a random brain storm that I came up with inspired to combine her stories of Peter being Neal's father with the twins series of Neal and Bryce being two agents. Since it was too fun for either of us to pass up, she wrote 'It Runs in the Family" and I wrote this.
> 
> Next week I will be leaving town so my next installment for this will be posted early (most likely Thursday or Friday).


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